My Story on the Ebola Epidemic in Liberia

By Rev. Boimah Mason, Wholistic International Ministries

The Ebola Virus' impact is more dire than many in the West have reported.  In the first wave of the outbreak (March through June 2014), the virus traversed the boundary line between Liberia and Guinea into Lofa County, Liberia. Immediately, it was announced by the health minister, but unfortunately, the Liberian government failed to take an immediate action in stopping the spread of the virus. In fact, in many quarters, the denial among local and national governmental leaders led to the absence of modern medical treatment and prophylactic practices. In the vacuum, traditional practices (e.g., local remedies and cultural aspects of caring for the dead) were employed toward the sick - leading to people dying at a very high rate. As the result, hundreds of people were victimized and died; the death count increased to more than 2,000 by the end of June.

Island Clinic Ebola Treatment Center-Liberia

The second wave of the outbreak came from the Sierra Leone / Liberia border area beginning in July 2014. This outbreak, again, brought many deaths because of the state of denial and use of traditional practices. Cultural aspects of "traditional practices" means showing respect to the dead by having the surviving loved ones rest with and bathe the dead body with their bare hands. There was no clear, widespread communication from healthcare leaders or government officials regarding the dangers of these honored cultural norms.

The Ebola virus becomes very active (i.e., contagious) when an afflicted person's immune system is broken down or the person passes. Body contact is highly dangerous. The Ebola virus kills.

The virus has no boundaries of race, age, tribe, or social status; it kills just anyone. In my area alone near Monrovia, lots of nurses, medical doctors, Minister of the Gospel, middle class moms and dad, children, grandparents, etc., have died and still are dying daily. The magnitude of the situation in Liberia as it relates to the Ebola virus is very bad. Many are getting sick daily without getting medical treatment. As a little known secondary impact, many clinics and hospitals are closed; those that are open are packed with the sick, dying, or deceased. Those facilities that are opened are refusing to take in sick patients that have malaria, head trauma, fever, and other diseases that have no link to the Ebola virus. Again, in my area alone, this is causing hundreds of non-Ebola deaths daily. The Liberian government is unable to address these issues. Over 10,000 people live in my community; hundreds have gotten sick and have died. Remember, the outbreak is much worse in Lofa County and elsewhere in Liberia than it is near me. 

Rev. Mason with volunteers.

Current situation:  Earlier last week, the government announced that the situation is improving. But frankly, I personally do not want to hold to this announcement, reasons being, the government continue to give false information, and the healthcare facilities are silent. Lots of people are dying at home and people are still getting sick without care. A day ago, an old man who lives down the street from me died at his house. Unfortunately, the ambulance team was called when he got sick, but failed to arrive until more than a day later, after his demise. After the man died, it took the team one to two days before picking up the body. I had to take my family out from the community for some days for safety; we may return early next week, if no one else in his home is sick.

There are additional secondary effects of the outbreak.  Since the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Liberia, the Liberian government has cut down their staff, shut down most if not all public service offices, clinics, hospitals, and schools. This brought great fear to many business owners, private institutions, and foreign personnel. Some left the country for safety and have not returned.  Thousands of people are out of jobs. Market places, churches, and some businesses are opened, but the prices of things are very high due to the scarcity of goods and the dire needs of people for basic necessities. This has made the daily cost of living high for people. Food supplies are limited. The good and bad news: there is one or two hospitals and clinics opened near Monrovia, but they do not have enough medicine and basic supplies to meet the needs.

The biggest non-Ebola related need is to care for malaria patients and those who have illnesses other than Ebola. Currently, there is no professional care available for them. Anyone who gets sick, if God is not with them, their answer is death. This is very sad.

Frankly, the government and other institutions are trying to communicate Ebola prevention through following:

1. Newspapers
2. Printed materials
3. Radio
4. Television
5. Public speaking venues
6. Website from other institutions

However, they were late getting started until the outbreak had become an epidemic.  The forms of communication above are effective.  However, more needs to be done to (1) create "safe zones" for the care of patients with other illnesses, and, (2) show more care to Ebola patients and health workers who are on the front line sacrificing their lives to save lives.

Because of the slow impact of the government, many institutions like ours ("Wholistic" International Ministries) got involved in providing education and community awareness for Ebola virus prevention; we have also distributed supplies to Ebola treatment centers for victims. See below photos of our mission community Educational awareness on the Ebola Virus.

More of this is needed to help save lives. Kindly join us in the fight against the Ebola virus to help save lives through your prayers, and love gifts.

What is most needed now are:

1. Safe drinking water for Ebola patients in treatment centers.
2. Fruit juices
3. Malaria nets
4. Hands sanitizers
5. First aid medication for malaria, fever, headache, pain, etc.
6. Buckets for hand washing
7. Food (such as rice, potatoes, milk, eggs etc.)

Hospitals and Health Care Workers on the Front End of Ebola Crisis

by Jill McDonald-Halsey, APR, president, NESHCo 

Hospitals and health care providers are walking a fine line as the story of Ebola cases in the US unfolds. While the infection of two hospital workers in the very first US-diagnosed case is alarming, there are some key points hospitals should be sharing with communities to help keep things calm.

1. Hospitals and health care workers have lots of experience dealing with and protecting themselves from infectious diseases, many of which are more contagious than Ebola. Caregivers use personal protection equipment every day in hospitals. Ebola, however, is an infection that is new to us, so we are adding layers of new information and precaution to what we already know about infectious diseases. Indeed, we are learning more as we go and sharing best practices from all over the country and world.
    
2. Hospitals have ramped up their emergency response planning and drilling exponentially since the attack on the World Trade Centers.  Federal funding has allowed us to purchase equipment to help us respond to a wide variety of emergencies, including natural disasters, disease outbreaks and even terrorist attacks. We have a response structure that is coordinated across organizations in place and ready at any moment.
    
3. While there is understandable anxiety around the potential presence of Ebola in our country, hospitals need to be the voice of calm and confidence and find ways to help to educate the media without feeding the frenzy. The truth is Ebola is relatively difficult to contract, and those most at risk are those who are caring for the patient-not the public. Our priorities are proper care of the patients, and the best possible precautions for our caregivers to prevent further infection.
    
4. Our internal communication is just as important as external communication. If your staff members do not understand and participate in the response to Ebola and any other emergency response, they will become anxious and vocal about their uncertainties, with patients or with family, friends, even media. Transparency about the plan is vitally important-- what we know and what we don't, and how we handle the unknown to keep everyone as safe as possible.
    
5. Finger pointing is unhelpful and even damaging to public confidence. It is possible to raise process questions and make suggestions without raising further alarm, just as we do with any other response to illness in our facilities. Candid communication among care providers and inclusion helps to keep everyone focused on the goal of providing the safest care possible, while protecting the public and the care staff.
    
6. Perspective is an important tool in our communication on Ebola. One of the smartest things members of the public can do to protect themselves from deadly infectious disease is to get a flu shot. Flu kills 50,000 Americans a year, and hospitalizes 200,000. Ebola is responsible for one death in the US.