Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

How to talk to your kids about Ebola

Courtney Schmidt, PharmD
Conditions
November 2, 2014
15 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

Ebola is a scary topic; there’s no doubt about that. With the onslaught of media coverage that has no end in sight, it’s likely that older children have already heard of the Ebola outbreak or will hear about it in the near future. The question is, what can we do to help our kids work through the confusing and frightening messages they see on television?

Here are some suggestions to help you talk to your kids about this difficult topic.

Educate yourself first

Take a step back from the coverage you’ve seen on the news, and maintain some perspective. It is the job of news organizations to arouse your interest and emotions- otherwise we’d stop watching. So recognize that this tactic is being used to provoke a lot of anxiety about this disease. While acknowledging that this is a scary illness, also know that it is very rare and not likely to personally affect your family. The truth is, your children are much more likely to be harmed by car accidents, gun violence or complications from the flu than they are from the Ebola virus. However, human nature is to be afraid of what we don’t know, and most of us don’t know much about Ebola.

Here are some things you should know:

  • When people with Ebola are properly identified, isolated and treated, the risk of passing Ebola to others is low.
  • Direct contact with a sick person’s bodily fluids (vomit, blood, urine, feces and others) is needed to transmit the disease. This is why the disease has remained confined to specific areas and why it disproportionally affects caregivers and health care workers. If you are not caring for ill people in your home or at your job who have the virus, you are unlikely to contract the disease.
  • Ebola is only contagious once the person has begun experiencing symptoms. This means that there is an effective way to identify and isolate those who are at risk of transmitting the disease.
  • The Ebola virus is not an airborne disease. If you need proof, think of the hundreds of people who flew on the airplane with Thomas Eric Duncan and Amber Vinson. To date, none of those passengers have become ill. Only those who had direct contact with the bodily fluids of an ill person have contracted the disease.
  • While things have not gone perfectly as the Ebola virus has moved onto American soil, our healthcare system is well-equipped to contain this disease. Instead of the outbreak ballooning into the thousands as it has in West Africa, the number of those affected while in the U.S. stands currently at two.

For more information on the Ebola virus, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Take the initiative to bring it up with your kids 

Don’t wait until your kids approach the topic with you. Sometimes the things that are the most frightening to children (even teens) are the things they are most hesitant to talk about. They may have heard the rumblings among their peers, on television or online, but don’t know enough to formulate thoughtful questions.

Be proactive and start the conversation. Ask them if they’ve heard anyone talking about the Ebola virus. What have they heard? What do they think it is? Assess where they are in their understanding, and move forward from there.

Calm their fears with factual information

It is helpful for children to know in these scary circumstances that there are smart, capable and well-trained professionals who are charged with managing these problems. We know how Ebola is transmitted, and we know how to prevent the spread of the disease. While the media focuses on the failures of our system to protect the two people who have been infected in the U.S., what they fail to highlight is how well we’ve done protecting potentially thousands of people from becoming infected. Our healthcare system can always do better, and we will strive to do better, but lets also recognize what we’ve done well.

Be sure your kids understand that the Ebola virus isn’t likely to affect them unless they have traveled to countries in West Africa or are exposed to someone who has. Even then, the risk is very low. Breathing the same air on an airplane or sitting next to someone on a bus isn’t going to give you the disease. It is exposure to bodily fluids (blood, vomit, feces and others) that puts you at risk. It’s a good rule of thumb to talk to your kids regularly about hygiene anyway- avoidance of other peoples’ bodily fluids as well as hand washing. This is especially important during flu season, and let’s face it, your kids are much more likely to be faced with the flu virus than with the Ebola virus.

The most important thing for us to do as parents is listen to our kids. Give them space to acknowledge their fears and then help them work through ways to manage those fears. In the case of Ebola, our kids need to know that although there is a lot of talk about it, it is not likely to affect them. They need to know that their parents and their healthcare providers know how to protect them and know how to take care of them if they get sick.

Use the opportunity to share your values

Use this real-world example to show your kids that we live in a global society. Even things that happen around the world can affect our lives; that’s why we have to care about those around us, even when they come from far away. It’s also a good opportunity to highlight the sacrifices that healthcare workers make, often putting themselves in harm’s way because they believe in caring for others.

In the end, we all want the same things. We want to be healthy, and we want our families to be healthy. Whether the conversation begins with Ebola or something else, wrestling with the hard realities of this world is part of growing up. Don’t leave your children to navigate these difficult things on their own.

Talk about it. You can do it.

Courtney Schmidt is medical communications editor, Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando, FL. She blogs at Illuminate.

Prev

Transition of care: A letter to ACO General Hospital

November 2, 2014 Kevin 8
…
Next

Keep the questions coming as you progress through medical training

November 2, 2014 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Infectious Disease, Pediatrics

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Transition of care: A letter to ACO General Hospital
Next Post >
Keep the questions coming as you progress through medical training

More by Courtney Schmidt, PharmD

  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Having a sibling with special needs: A challenge for the whole family

    Courtney Schmidt, PharmD
  • On the first day of school, a letter to my child’s teacher

    Courtney Schmidt, PharmD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Educate your children about guns

    Courtney Schmidt, PharmD

More in Conditions

  • Lazarus: the dead man brought back to life

    William Lynes, MD
  • The psychoanalytic hammer: lessons in listening and patient-centered care

    Greg Smith, MD
  • 5 essential tips to help men prevent prostate cancer

    Kevin Jones, MD
  • Changing the pediatric care landscape: Integrating behavioral and mental health care

    Hilary M. Bowers, MD
  • Unlocking the secret to successful weight loss: Curiosity is the key

    Franchell Hamilton, MD
  • The teacher who changed my life through reading

    Raymond Abbott
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

      Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN | Policy
    • The struggle to fill emergency medicine residency spots: Exploring the factors behind the unfilled match

      Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH | Physician
    • Deaths of despair: an urgent call for a collective response to the crisis in U.S. life expectancy

      Mohammed Umer Waris, MD | Policy
    • Breaking the stigma: Addressing the struggles of physicians

      Jean Antonucci, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • The hidden dangers of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act

      Meghan Sheehan, MD | Policy
    • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

      Helen Kim, MD | Policy
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • Lazarus: the dead man brought back to life

      William Lynes, MD | Conditions
    • Revolutionizing COPD management with virtual care solutions [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • What I think it means to be a medical student in the wake of AI

      Jackson J. McCue | Tech
    • It’s time for C-suite to contract directly with physicians for part-time work

      Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD | Physician
    • The psychoanalytic hammer: lessons in listening and patient-centered care

      Greg Smith, MD | Conditions
    • From rural communities to underserved populations: How telemedicine is bridging health care gaps

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 2 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • Sam Neill's Rare Lymphoma
  • Day in the Life of a Doctor: Treating a Patient With Septic Shock
  • Paxlovid May Lower Long COVID Risk, VA Study Suggests
  • Digital Inhalers May Improve Uncontrolled Asthma Management
  • Another Win for Zolbetuximab in Advanced Gastric/GEJ Cancer

Meeting Coverage

  • Switch to IL-23 Blocker Yields Deep Responses in Recalcitrant Plaque Psoriasis
  • Biomarkers of Response With Enfortumab Vedotin in Advanced Urothelial Cancer
  • At-Home Topical Therapy for Molluscum Contagiosum Gets High Marks
  • Outlook for Itchy Prurigo Nodularis Continues to Improve With IL-31 Antagonist
  • AAAAI President Shares Highlights From the 2023 Meeting
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

      Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN | Policy
    • The struggle to fill emergency medicine residency spots: Exploring the factors behind the unfilled match

      Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH | Physician
    • Deaths of despair: an urgent call for a collective response to the crisis in U.S. life expectancy

      Mohammed Umer Waris, MD | Policy
    • Breaking the stigma: Addressing the struggles of physicians

      Jean Antonucci, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • The hidden dangers of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act

      Meghan Sheehan, MD | Policy
    • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

      Helen Kim, MD | Policy
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • Lazarus: the dead man brought back to life

      William Lynes, MD | Conditions
    • Revolutionizing COPD management with virtual care solutions [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • What I think it means to be a medical student in the wake of AI

      Jackson J. McCue | Tech
    • It’s time for C-suite to contract directly with physicians for part-time work

      Aaron Morgenstein, MD & Corinne Sundar Rao, MD | Physician
    • The psychoanalytic hammer: lessons in listening and patient-centered care

      Greg Smith, MD | Conditions
    • From rural communities to underserved populations: How telemedicine is bridging health care gaps

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today iMedicalApps
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

How to talk to your kids about Ebola
2 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...