Reflections from Rick's first week in Liberia

I’ve been here 10 days now, and spent last weekend on call at ELWA Hospital, the 55 bed facility that SIM runs just outside Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city.  The news here is good – the Ebola epidemic really seems to be coming to an end.  But in the healthcare setting in particular, its effects will be felt for many months to come.  

Many outward changes have been made at ELWA due to the Ebola crisis.  All patients, staff and visitors now enter the hospital compound through a single gate where people must wash their hands with bleach and have their temperature checked before entry.  Bleach is everywhere throughout the hospital.  Staff members with sprayers wash down the floors multiple times per day and are on hand after surgeries or other exposures to blood or body fluids to decontaminate staff before “doffing” their gowns and gloves. Temporary buildings have been erected to house our outpatient clinic because our old clinic became part of the Ebola Treatment Unit, ELWA-2. But for the most part, ELWA Hospital is up and running, and most beds are full.  

The new screening entrance to the hospital.

 

For me personally the first week was about confronting the reality of death.  Many patients die in the hospital—this should not be a surprise, right?  But emotionally it is a challenge to face mortality so frequently. 

We counseled several patients about their metastatic cancer this week, presenting them with the hard information that the cancer had progressed beyond a stage where anything could be done from the medical point of view. We talk with these patients privately, off the busy ward; then, along with the hospital’s chaplain, we pray for them if they wish. The comfort and compassion we offer, along with an honest explanation in plain language, are important hallmarks of the work we do. 

To read about Rick's other patients over the weekend, please go to
Doctor's notes: American Ebola survivor back in Africa, dealing with loss

First Days Back

Here is an update from Rick, covering his first impressions and activities back in Liberia.  The post links to CNN for the rest of the blog.  We pray that through the publication of his blog, people will gain a greater understanding of the needs of West Africa in the aftermath of the Ebola crisis.

 

 

Wow!  It's 9:30 p.m. Sunday (January 18) and I am beat. Might fall asleep. Guess I will find out how the Patriots did in the AFC playoff tomorrow (the game would have started at 11:40 p.m. local time). I arrived here in Liberia Friday evening, January 16, after a 26 hour trip (three flights with a long layover in Brussels), with my seven pieces of luggage, filled mostly with donated drugs and supplies for ELWA Hospital, the ministry SIM runs just outside Monrovia.

 

I've spent some time catching up with our SIM Liberia country director, Will, who just got back here from the UK about five days ago, and Dr. John, my colleague who has been anchoring the hospital medical staff throughout the Ebola crisis.

 

Because I wasn't due to report for work until Monday, we decided to clean the apartment where I had stayed in August, as it had been unoccupied since I left.

 

Read the remainder of this blog post on the CNN website:

Doctor's notes: American Ebola survivor is back in Liberia
 

Keep on praying for Rick and the SIM-Liberia and ELWA team!  Many transitions ahead.

 

 

 

 

Off he goes!

 

After a couple days of publicity and packing, Rick boarded the plane on Thursday and arrived safely in Liberia on Friday evening.  He spent Saturday and Sunday catching up with our country director, Will Elphick and his wife Jenny, and with Dr. John Fankhauser who has been the primary missionary doctor at ELWA Hospital through most of the Ebola crisis. Tomorrow it's back to work. But he is hoping to find somewhere to watch the playoff game tonight, even though it might mean staying up most of the night....yea, not sure he is going to make it through that. Maybe the first quarter.

Here are some photos from the week.

Rick will be blogging from Liberia in the next three weeks.  His blogs will appear here, but will link to the CNN website for the last few paragraphs, so don't be thrown off.  We are praying that many people will read the blogs and continue to pray for the Ebola crisis to end in West Africa. We also hope that people will understand more about the ongoing needs for health care infrastructure in Liberia and other vulnerable parts of the world through Rick's story. 

Getting Ready

5 days and counting.  The boxes of drugs and medical supplies have arrived.  Rick and Jared are making the most of the Patriots' game breaking down packaging to get as much as possible into Rick's bags. 

 

A link to a boston globe "Perspectives" article titled "Unintended Consequences"

http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2014/10/15/ebola-survivor-richard-sacra-what-must-next/Ht3relF2R19s7583e5xGtN/story.html

A Message from Rick

I asked Rick to write some comments that I might share at a press conference.  Here is his message:

I have truly been overwhelmed by words of kindness and support received over the last week since my diagnosis with Ebola virus disease. Some old friends from years past, some new friends whom I have not met, and others have joined a mighty chorus of prayer on my behalf. This is a very humbling and overwhelming experience.  Thank you all for your prayers. They have sustained me thus far as I make daily improvements in my condition. Thank you also for your contributions towards the work in Liberia. Without your generosity, the situation there would truly be hopeless. With your contributions toward supplies of personal protective gear and other medical supplies/medications, the door will remain open for SIM and ELWA Hospital to have the ministry God has called us to, providing medical care in Monrovia, a city whose entire health care system is in crisis.  Finally, thank you for your prayers and kind words of support and love toward my wife and children. We deeply appreciate every one and I feel like I am truly experiencing the body of Christ at work on a global scale! We love and appreciate you.

 

I have been told that the SIM Ebola project has received over $180,000 so far.  This morning, I received an email from Dr. John Fankhauser that some work to redesign the intake area of the hospital is nearly finished so that they can begin to care for patients in other areas besides obstetrics.  Please continue to pray for all the hospital workers to be protected from exposure to the virus. 

Update on Rick Sacra

Monday, September 8, 2014
Dear Praying Friends –
I can hardly believe that it was less than a week ago that I wrote you to ask you to pray for Rick because he had contracted Ebola virus disease.  You’ve all seen what has happened since then on the national news, so I am not going to fill you in on all of those details.  I’m not sure I can get the timeline right myself!  This has probably been the longest week of my life.

We have felt the power of all your prayers. I believe that the speed with which Rick was evacuated and his relative strength at the time of his evacuation is the result all that prayer.  The trip was tough on him, but each day since then has been a little bit better. I have appreciated all the messages of concern and encouragement and admiration that I have received from hundreds of people in the last week.  I hope that by posting on facebook and through this email, in addition to the information that we are releasing publicly, you feel that you know what is happening since I can’t get back to everyone personally.  

Max and I arrived in Omaha on Saturday and the Nebraska Medical Center has welcomed us kindly and generously.  Our country director from Liberia and his wife, Will and Jenny Elphick, have been with us over the weekend and Dave and Mary Decker will take their place when they leave today.  The last two days have been full of meetings with doctors, signing papers, planning a media strategy, a little shopping for things we forgot in our haste to travel, as well as trying to keep family up to date and stay in touch with Jared and Caleb. We are extremely grateful to be a part of SIM in this circumstance—their commitment to their members and to prayer have made us so proud and blessed to be members of this mission. 

 

Rick really did improve over the weekend, but the doctors are cautious because they don’t have a textbook on the clinical course of Ebola, and they are trying experimental treatments for the first time in a human patient with Ebola.  They are literally writing the book. We pray that the expansion of their knowledge will contribute to some medical solutions that are viable in Africa, and soon. 

I don’t want to make this long, but we do want to continue to use Rick’s story to remind the world of the tragedy that is going on in Liberia and West Africa.  Finally, it is getting the attention of the West and some resources are being allocated to support the medical efforts to save lives and stop the epidemic.  Pray that the money and supplies will be distributed quickly to the most effective partners in the battle.  If anyone asks you where they can make a contribution, direct them to the sim.org website, where clicking the banner will direct them to the contribution page. http://www.sim.org/ebola/

Thanks again for your love, concern, messages and your prayers.  God is with us.

Love, Debbie