Keeping Kakata Liberia Safe From Ebola

On Wednesday, Dr. Chris was in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, purchasing sanitation and medical supplies while they are still available.  She was able to purchase 100 buckets, soap, and bleach for the first of the community sanitation stations. On Thursday, she and the community health workers began making the rounds to set up stations and check on the welfare of each community.  They will continue this process until supplies run out.

Liberia is considered the least-equipped of all of the countries affected by the Ebola outbreak.  Security forces have been ordered to ensure that quarantine measures and travel restrictions are observed with new military checkpoints blocking movement from quarantined areas.  Unfortunately, Dr. Chris reports that much of the food is grown in the quarantined areas and food shortages are expected soon. To make matters worse the local water system in Kakata was recently purposely contaminated and water supply was shut down for several days. 

In response to government orders, limiting travel and people gathering, and in consideration of the safety of our HWHL staff, Dr. Chris has halted operations involving direct patient contact at the clinic.  CH Rennie Hospital, the local Regional Referral Hospital, remains closed, so the closest location open for isolation of Ebola patients is the private employee clinic at the Firestone Rubber Plantation over 10 miles away.  Since so many hospitals in Liberia have simply closed their doors because they don’t have adequate supplies to protect their staff, nobody is getting medical care, whether they’re pregnant, sick with malaria or having a heart attack.   

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