About a month ago, Liberia reported a week in which no Ebola
cases had been diagnosed. May 9 is the target date for Liberia to be declared
Ebola free, with no diagnosed cases for 42 days. People presenting at hospitals
with fevers and other symptoms continue to be screened for Ebola and hundreds
of tests are still being run each week, so the vigilance continues. Sierra
Leone and Guinea are making some progress as well: only 12 and 21 cases were
diagnosed in those countries in the last week, with large increases in testing
taking place showing that more people are interacting with the Ebola
intervention program. We’re all praying
for the numbers to really drop off soon, just about a year after the world
began to understand what was happening in West Africa.
More news from Rick in Liberia soon!
Rick headed back to Liberia on Thursday, April 16th
for a few weeks before our graduation season begins (Caleb from high school and
Jared from his HVAC program). He will fill us in on how things are running at
the hospital now that regular services are ramping up. The day before, Samaritan’s Purse officially
re-launched the new hospital construction project. Meanwhile, SIM missionaries
are returning and assessing the status of their ministries. Everyone is ready
and willing to be back to work.
We’d like to update you on the fundraising that we have been
doing since Rick’s first trip to Liberia.
We are hoping to raise $50,000 this year for three ELWA Hospital
projects.
The first is the ELWA Hospital Benevolence fund to assist
patients who cannot pay their hospital bill.
So far, $2,400 has come in for that project.
The second fundraising goal is to purchase
some lab equipment as a part of the ELWA Hospital Transition Project. $6,550 was given for that project, which
should allow the Hospital to acquire some laboratory equipment in the near
future. Rick hopes to determine what is needed while he is in Liberia and take
it back with him in July.
Finally, in anticipation of the need for more and
better trained physicians in Liberia, we are raising money for the Family
Medicine Residency Program that Rick hopes to develop at ELWA Hospital. Almost $7000 has been given to this project
in recent months. Therefore the total so
far is $15,950.00. Thanks to those who have given to these projects. We have
been overwhelmed with your generosity towards the Liberian people and the work
of ELWA Hospital.
If you would still like to give to these projects, all the information is posted in this blog post
