Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
“In six months Ebola has brought my country to a standstill.” Those were the words of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She added, “This is a fight in which the whole world has a stake, this disease respects no borders and the damage it is causing in West Africa, whether in public health, the economy or within communities, is already reverberating throughout the region and across the world,”
This ‘Ebola’ crisis is of no less a concern to health officials and the Government of Montserrat, with the Ministry of Health proceeding on a comprehensive program as part of its response to the Ebola virus that has reportedly killed 4,500 people mainly in Africa (2000 in Liberia) and one person in the USA after his arrival from Africa.
Dr. Tracy Huggins CMO
Major islands of the Caribbean have all wasted no time to get on board with the scare of the ciris and each day more Caribbean islands join the list of countries closing their doors to visitors from Ebola-stricken countries, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone in West Africa.
Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda have already established entry restrictions for passengers from certain African countries.
Just today, (Friday) the National Security Ministry of Jamaica said Friday that passengers from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone will be not allowed to enter the island.
Reports today say other islands are studying similar measures after concluding that their hospitals and medical personnel are not prepared to cope with Ebola.
The same situation is true for Montserrat as the Ministry of Health here has undertaken a comprehensive program as part of its response to the Ebola virus with workers at the island’s port of entry including immigration and customs staff and the ferry crew receive training.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Tracy Kernane Huggins says the training has involved health care workers such as doctors and nurses. The training is to include to immigration and customs staff as well as the ferry crew.
The CMO explains in detail in an interview as follows:
“The first thing is the public protecting them, so this isn’t just the Ministry of Health the public has to help protect them. Do not show up at casualty if you believe you have Ebola or you have someone in your home who has Ebola, that is the number one protection for us.
“Two: we’re giving people the right clothing, the personal protective clothing to use if they do come into contact with someone with Ebola.
“We have set up an area in the hospital that will be used as isolation so anyone coming in will be dealt with at a remote location where they already are. We will not bring anyone into causality, they will then be put in isolation; we will take care of the individual there, whether it’s at the port of entry or wherever they be.
We will assess them there and then we will take them straight to isolation, so, all staff are not going to be exposed to these individuals.
“But number one is barrier- nursing and using the personal protective equipment and this consist of and you see it on the TV; it’s the full jump suit, there is the foot covering.”
She says they have several boxes of the suits, which, “… the suits come – it’s a whole suit so your feet are covered, up until your neck and then there is the hood. There are also over shoes to put over that doubly protect your feet; there are gloves and you put two sets of gloves on; there are goggles to cover the upper part of the face and there is a mask to cover the lower part of the face, so that is the equipment and then on top of that we have a plastic apron that goes on top of the suit.
“So, it is a fully kitted out PPE package that we give to our health care workers and indeed in places where individuals like immigration, customs and airport authorities who may come in contact with someone who potentially has Ebola, they would also have access to these suits in order to deal with that individual safety.”
Dr. Huggins, however carefully noted, if an individual has not traveled to an Ebola endemic area or has not come into contact with someone who has Ebola, the likelihood is practically zero that they have the virus., she says the Ebola virus is communicated by direct contact with bodily fluids, such as blood, diarrhea and vomiting…These bodily fluids had to be in contact with an open wound or mucus membrane.
She says: ”people need to be reasonable, rational, sensible…it’s like dealing with any other infected disease as scary as it is but you have to maintain the personal hygiene, you have to be vigilant – responsible – honest. The signs and symptoms are flu-like, but, the number one criterion is someone who has traveled to an endemic Ebola area or some who has worked with or taken care of someone with Ebola,” carefully noting that there is no fear once understood, “people need to be clear on that point, and the fact that the disease doesn’t spread very easily.”
Pics ebola suits – Dr. Huggins –
