GBMC Health Services
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GBMC Community Forum About MRSA – “Facts vs. Fiction”

Greater Baltimore Medical Center is hosting a forum on March 11, 6-7:30 pm, to educate community members about what precautions they and their family members can take to prevent and reduce their risk of infection from Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA), a virulent strain of bacteria commonly found on the skin that has been making headlines in Maryland and throughout the nation.

GBMC’s Community Forum About MRSA – "Facts vs. Fiction" – is being held in the rear of the hospital’s dining room on the fifth floor of the main hospital (Elevator B). Light refreshments will be served and free parking is available in the Lily Park garage.

"Recent news reports have been prompted not only by deaths due to MRSA but by new evidence that infections from the bacteria are increasing faster than experts previously realized," said Daniel Levy, M.D., an internal medicine physician and infection control specialist at GBMC. "Because MRSA is resistant to most antibiotics, it is important that we all work together—hospitals and health care providers, schools, and community members—to prevent the spread of this and other infections. Learning about what each of us can do to combat these infections is an important first step."

The forum agenda includes:

  • Discussion of why there is such a concern today about MRSA
  • Differences between health-care associated MRSA and community-associated MRSA
  • Discussion of standard precautions (hand hygiene, gloving, gowning, etc.)
  • What GBMC is doing to prevent MRSA infections
  • What individuals/families/community members can do to help prevent/limit MRSA infections
  • Demonstration of proper hand washing techniques
  • Perspective from Health Department officials about plans to reduce MRSA infections
  • Baltimore County school system representative discussing athletic locker room/team sports league procedures to follow to minimize the spread of MRSA
  • Educational information (from CDC, etc.) and Questions & Answers from public

GBMC is joining other Maryland hospitals in a statewide initiative, coordinated by the Maryland Hospital Association, which is designed to provide communities with information about reducing their risks, to review the differences between health care-associated MRSA and community-associated MRSA, and share the strategies hospitals are using to prevent and reduce MRSA and other infections.