My decision not to write over the past several weeks has
been a conscious one. I started
off my time in Sierra Leone being surprised how little this felt like an
emergency situation to me. Yes,
things were chaotic and the expectations on me were overwhelming at times, but
it felt kind of like any other job.
About a month ago, that suddenly changed. I’m very conscious that my being here
makes many of my friends and family members anxious, and for that reason I
chose not to write about the things that have been going on for the last few
weeks until they were all resolved.
So before you go any further, just keep in mind that I am completely
fine and in no danger. However,
the experiences of the past few weeks have really had an impact on me so I want
to share them with you.
I will begin when this all started, on February 15. One of my housemates had been feeling
poorly for a few days, but none of us were too worried. We returned from a beach trip on that
Sunday to find him in bed with chills and a fever. After giving him some fever reducers and ORS for
dehydration, we started the process of calling our company doctor. It soon became clear that although his
symptoms were not completely consistent with Ebola, they wanted him to go and
get tested to be on the safe side.
Unfortunately, as we soon found out, that was not as easy as we might
think.
The problem is not a lack of Ebola Treatment Centers (ETCs),
but rather a lack of appropriate transportation. A patient suspected of having Ebola can only travel in an
ambulance that can be decontaminated and can only have contact with someone
wearing full personal protective equipment (PPE), you know the stuff that looks
like a spacesuit. So we found
ourselves waiting in limbo while our bosses were working to try to find
transporation. All the while, our
housemate’s temperature was rising and he was becoming increasingly frustrated.
Finally, the ambulance came. We stood watching from our balcony as a caravan of three vehicles
came: one ambulance, one full of staff, and one full of PPE and chlorine. The staff got out, sprayed the area
with chlorine, and began the long process of putting on PPE. If you’ve never seen anyone do it, you
might realize that it takes almost a full 15 minutes to put on PPE and another
full 15 to take it off. The
process involves multiple steps, almost all of which involve dousing everything
in chlorine solution.
I had started to feel a combination of numbness and anxiety
as I watched the men in yellow suits come into our apartment and then walk out
with our friend, spraying down our apartment with chlorine as they went. After he went out into the ambulance,
we waited another 30 minutes or so as the staff took off their PPE and
decontaminated the area. As they
finally drove away, we found ourselves sitting, somewhat shell-shocked in the
living room. I had never even had
time to shower after coming back from the beach and could feel the beginnings
of a sunburn coming on.
As per protocol, we were placed into quarantine until we
could get the test results. We
tried to make the best of it, having dinner together and watching a movie. Although we all knew logically that his
symptoms were not consistent with Ebola and he had never had contact with an
Ebola positive person, the entire experience left us all with our doubts.
The next day we waited, everyone finding their own way to
pass the time. Our apartment still
reeked of chlorine, but in the light of day I found myself feeling less
anxious. We got news about the
first test by about midday, and it was negative. It turns out that the protocol is actually to have two tests
done, so we were told we would
have to wait until the second test was back to have our freedom. By the end of the day, the second test
was back and we were free.
Our housemate was back by the evening, in much better
shape. It turned out that rather
than Ebola, it had been E.coli. I
guess this just goes to show that when you’re in an epidemic, you better be
very careful about the food you eat.
No comments:
Post a Comment