Inspired Magazine

More documents

Recommendations

Info

EBOLA – A WORLD PROBLEM Meanwhile, across a great swathe of Indian Ocean, the horrors of the Ebola virus were playing out. The Red Cross was desperate for workers to help stem the tide of death rolling across West Africa. Having already volunteered as a nurse in Papua New Guinea and as an aid worker in Sudan, and killing time while the grievance case was considered, Anne decided to put up her hand to help. Unlike others, she didn’t see Ebola as an African problem – it was a world problem. “To me this was just a response to an impoverished, war-torn people facing an uneven battle with a disease they were fairly powerless to contain,” Anne says. “Not to respond would be like not going to the aid of a victim being beaten up in the school yard.” She couldn’t understand how others didn’t see it that way. And yet she was realistic. She and her partner, doctor Donald Howarth, knew there was a chance Anne would not return. But if people like Anne - people with the skills to help - let fear stop them, what hope was there of overcoming Ebola’s perils? Anne would do what she could to help. PREPARING Anne flew to Melbourne for a Red Cross debriefing where she learned that, at that time, if she did contract Ebola, the Australian government 14 ANNE CAREY
would not intervene. There would be no option of coming home for treatment. But, after a few days in Geneva learning how to fight the virus, Anne felt better about going. She knew anyone who was infected had three days before they became contagious. And, with early intervention, the survival rate was much higher. But in Africa, where such information was not common knowledge, it was taking days for patients to seek treatment. They were scared to approach treatment centres staffed by medical staff who looked robot-like in their bulky white protective suits. And by then it was too late. By then they’d infected their loved ones, by then they’d missed their chance for lifesaving treatment. At this stage the death rate was around 80 percent. DAILY DUTIES IN DEATH ZONE Anne entered into this whirling mass of death and confusion in December 2014. While reeling from the horrors, she somehow fell into the daily routine of treating its sufferers. Those presenting at the centre were divided – suspected infections this way, probable this way, and confirmed over there. Under tin roofs and canvas walls, Anne and the team would do what they could to save lives. First, they’d dress in layer upon layer of protective clothing until not an inch of their flesh remained exposed. They’d scrawl their names across the top of their protective eye masks so they could be identified under the body-concealing outfits. While the protective gear did the job of safeguarding its wearers from Ebola, it ran the risk of harming them through heat. The temperature would soar to 46 degrees inside the suits, worn in nearly 100 percent humidity. So health workers were restricted to dealing with patients for one-hour stints four times a day. Each time she came out of the high-risk area Anne would begin the task of undressing – peeling off layer by layer, and being sprayed with chlorine with every layer removed. Everything she wore would be contaminated with Ebola. So a mistake here could have fatal consequences. COMFORTING THE DYING While in the high-risk area Anne would treat patients with intravenous and oral fluids. She’d provide medication and clean up diarrhoea and vomit. She’d also try, as much as possible, to simply sit with the dying. “You could pick some people who were dying and get to them to sit with them and just hold their hand,” Anne says. “But there were others who’d be sitting up eating and talking and then an hour later they were dead. I always felt that was the hardest – not being there for those people.” There were some cases that Anne took harder than others. Like the baby who died on Anne’s first Previous page Anne kitted up to enter the high-risk Ebola area. Opposite page, top Anne overseeing the graves in the everexpanding cemetery of Ebola victims. Opposite page, bottom A boy awaits diagnosis, suspected of possible Ebola infection. Above left, top Anne with a local medical staffer. Anne says the local healthcare workers were the true heroes of the Ebola crisis. Above left, bottom Basic facilities characterised the Ebola treatment centre. Above Anne cradling an Ebola-affected baby. This child survived. ANNE CAREY 15
Page 1 and 2: ISSUE 2, 2016 $14.95 HEALING ORPHAN
Page 3 and 4: Issue 2, December 2016 FOUNDER/WRIT
Page 5 and 6: 44 48 52 60 66 Cristal Logothetis R
Page 8 and 9: Bottom Research has proven that lov
Page 10 and 11: In Jenny’s words ... Who inspires
Page 12 and 13: Anne Carey
Page 16 and 17: day at the treatment centre. Or the
Page 18 and 19: If people have purpose and connect
Page 20 and 21: Leif Cocks
Page 22 and 23: Previous page A baby orangutan clin
Page 24 and 25: loggers took to the orangutan with
Page 26 and 27: Give it a crack! LUCAS PATCHETT AND
Page 28 and 29: Lucas Patchett and Nic Marchesi LAU
Page 30 and 31: “Fired up about making a differen
Page 32 and 33: In Lucas and Nic’s words ... Who
Page 34 and 35: Love Bomb Spread the love ... At In
Page 36 and 37: Anja Ringgren Loven
Page 38 and 39: Top Anja cradles Hope in a blanket
Page 40 and 41: Top Victims often need support to o
Page 42 and 43: Have the courage to be kind. ANNE C
Page 44 and 45: Cristal Logothetis
Page 46 and 47: Donations of baby carriers and fund
Page 48 and 49: Ron Finley
Page 50 and 51: In Ron’s words ... What inspires
Page 52 and 53: Carina Hoang Carina Hoang fled Sout
Page 54 and 55: Above Carina has gone searching for
Page 56 and 57: Someone overhead them talking at th
Page 58 and 59: MAGIC LESSONS PODCAST Elizabeth Gil
Page 60 and 61: Alex Cearns
Page 62 and 63: Alex Cearns had recently started vo
Page 64 and 65:
transformed. It started ‘high fiv
Page 66 and 67:
Maggie Dent - Parenting educator an
Page 68 and 69:
Previous page Maggie is all about e
Page 70 and 71:
Above Maggie and her husband Steve.
Page 72:
www.inspired.org.au
show all

Inspired Magazine

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?