Inspired Magazine

day at the treatment centre. Or the 16-year-old
boy who came in with his mother, grandmother
and brother – his father was already dead. The boy
was terrified, his big brown eyes awash with fear.
So Anne sat with him, she attempted to calm him,
she urged him to be strong. He died the next day.
His brother died the day after. The boy’s mother
and grandmother survived.
In Anne’s words ...
What inspires me
Seeing everyday people having the courage and belief in themselves
to work for a kinder world.
Best advice
Have the courage to be kind.
RETURN TO FEAR
After a month of such work Anne had reached
the end of her stay – it was deemed too much
to expect health workers to cope with such
trauma for longer. But for Anne the trauma was
just beginning. For Anne returned to Western
Australia to face some sadly ill-informed criticism
from a public scared of contracting the virus.
She remained holed up in an apartment on the
outskirts of Perth for 21 days with no-one but her
partner Donald in physical contact, testing her
temperature twice a day, ever on the alert for
symptoms, and safe in the knowledge that, even
if she had contracted Ebola, she had three days to
get herself to treatment and quarantine before it
became contagious.
But the general public didn’t know about the
three-day period. They didn’t realise she’d have
the chance to isolate herself should even the
mildest of symptoms appear. People were scared,
and with fear came cruelty. Nasty comments
spewed forth on social media, and left Anne
terribly saddened. “It was horrible,” she recalls. “It
was a massive thing that was so uncalled for. I
found that really sad.”
The criticism she’d returned to seemed
particularly petty when compared to the
devastation she’d witnessed in Africa. So Anne
made up her mind. She’d return. The Red Cross
was cautious about accepting someone back
– surely it would be too traumatic. But Anne
countered that the bigger trauma was dealing with
the backlash she’d faced at home.
With another Ebola outbreak having unleashed
its fury closer to the Ebola treatment centre where
Anne had worked, they were desperate for staff.
The death rate was escalating once more. So Anne
returned to the fight.
FROM VILLAIN TO HEROINE
Anne remained three months this time, with
a week break in the midst of it. Eventually, as
education about Ebola spread through the country,
the health workers began to earn the upper hand.
People started presenting earlier with symptoms.
They learned how to prevent the virus’s spread. And
slowly they moved into the recovery phase.
By March Anne was due to come home. But
this time she returned via Europe, where a more
informed public and health system meant she
faced none of the experiences of her previous
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ANNE CAREY