Union hospital reacts quickly, no hazard found

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
Feb. 13, 2004
The emergency room of Alliance-Laird Hospital in Union was quarantined for several hours Thursday when a Neshoba County woman went to the hospital after experiencing a foul odor from a letter she opened.
The first tests done by the Mississippi State Department of Health for chemical agents on the contents of the letter and its envelope came up negative and the hospital's chief of staff said later there was no health threat.
Lea Stokes, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said more in-depth tests for biological or chemical agents will be performed.
Stokes said the woman, who was not identified, received a two-page, typed letter in an envelope purporting to be from the vice president of the United States. She did not know what the contents of the letter said.
Stokes said MEMA was first notified of the situation at 11:30 a.m. and that everyone in the emergency room was contained as a precaution, including the Neshoba County woman, four other patients who were already in the emergency room, hospital staff and a deputy.
By 4:30 p.m. there were no reports of illness due to any chemical or biological hazard, Stokes said.
About 5 p.m. all the involved agencies and staff were cleared from the hospital, according to Dr. Thomas Welsh, M.D., chief of staff of Alliance-Laird Hospital.
In a prepared statement, Welsh said the woman experienced a physical reaction after opening her mail and called her physician, who instructed her to go to the emergency room.
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality was called to the scene to test the air for harmful biological or chemical agents.
The Mississippi Highway Patrol transported the letter and envelope to Jackson for testing by the department of health.
Welsh said the possible emergency was acted upon "quickly, efficiently, appropriately, and successfully" and that there does not appear to be any health risk to anyone.