Tolland Nurse Treated Ebola In Sierra Leone

(AP) — In mid August, resident Jane Boggini traveled to Sierra Leone, where she worked to help stem the Ebola outbreak as a nurse with the Doctors Without Borders relief organization. When she arrived in the rural coffee- and cacao-growing village of Kailahun, residents fled their homes and hid in bushes, fearing the aid workers. The perception among villagers was that Ebola was a punishment from God and the white foreign workers were there to take their blood and harvest their organs, Boggini recalls. While the epidemic has largely been stemmed in Liberia, Boggini said the disease is spreading in the western portion of Sierra Leone because of unsanitary traditional cultural practices, such as kissing and touching bodies during funerals, and the movement of patients. Patients came to the makeshift treatment center established by Doctors Without Borders in a steady stream each day. The arrivals were usually given nourishment like an electrolyte-heavy drink and "plumpy nut" — a nutrient-dense concoction of peanut butter packed with vitamins, minerals, and sugar that was wrapped in foil. By the time she returned home to the United States, the survival rate had jumped much higher because of their efforts and educational outreach. Some of the hardest parts of the outreach work was seeing orphaned children having no place to go once they were released from the facility and the daily movement of the dead in the double-wrapped body bags being taken to makeshift mass-burial sites. When Boggini returned to Tolland, she monitored her temperature twice a day for three weeks, stayed away from church and crowded places like the mall, and had to refrain from visiting with her grandchildren.

Topics:  ap    in   august   jane boggini   kailahun   god   liberia   patients   united states   when boggini   tolland   boggini   sierra leone   ebola   doctors without borders   nurse   movement   day   makeshift   returned   outreach   workers   

 

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