From the President

Ebola: What Do We Have To Be Afraid of?

By Janlee Wong, MSW

When Mr. Thomas Eric Duncan arrived in September 2014, our attention suddenly turned to Ebola despite the epidemic’s outbreak in West Africa in December 2013. Despite assurances from health authorities that we were safe, Duncan’s mistaken release from the hospital and subsequent infections of two nurses has whipped up a frenzy in the media that Americans are at risk. To further compound the hysteria, Ebola has been injected into our political process as we near the November elections.

Rather than take a calm, public health approach to Ebola, we have engaged in finger-pointing, the blame game and overreaction. The lesson we’ve learned from Duncan’s experience is that our health care system was not as prepared as it should be and that Ebola is not just any kind of infectious disease; it needs a level of care and precaution that resembles biological warfare not AIDs or tuberculosis. As a result, we’ve increased training for health treatment personnel (such as donning and removing hazardous materials protective gear), and identified specialty facilities that meet the high standards for treating victims of highly infectious diseases such as the Nebraska Medical Center. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has developed a special strike team that can be deployed in short order.

Except for Duncan, all the infected patients treated in special facilities have survived and have not infected other health care workers. America is now prepared and getting better than in those first days when Duncan arrived. But we haven’t focused enough on containing the disease in West Africa until now.

We’ve sent a military mission to set up a specialized Ebola hospital in Liberia. France and Britain have send aid to Guinea and Sierra Leone. Cuba and China have sent hundreds of medical workers. Despite the media hysteria and political gamesmanship, we and the world know what needs to be done to stop Ebola: we must stop it in its origin.

Social workers are involved in this effort both overseas and here. Patients, family members and health care personnel need and benefit from social work services including dealing with the stigma, trauma and exhaustion resulting from treating this disease. While few of us can and are willing to volunteer to directly serve, we can be advocates for more aid and money to treat this disease in Africa. Please let your elected representatives know that you support more aid and money for treating and containing Ebola in Africa.