On the Front Lines of the Fight against Ebola
11-20-2014
By The Presbyterian Outlook
McCormick Alum and Presbyterian Dr. Jim McAuley reports from Sierra Leone
Presbyterian minister and medical doctor James “Jim” McAuley (MDiv 2005) has been sent by his employer from Zambia to Sierra Leone. Trained as an infectious disease specialist, McAuley is a member of the Presbytery of Chicago, while his family are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Evanston Ill.
He wrote to his wife in Zambia:
Sierra Leone is not in good shape ― really poor, lots of corruption, no infrastructure. I think things will likely get worse before they get better. People are being told not to touch dead bodies (good idea given that over half of all Ebola cases can be traced to contact with a body), but the government is slow to pick up bodies. The workers briefly went on strike (can you blame them? ― poorly paid and risking their lives). There was a body on the roundabout outside our hotel ― left for several days. Our workers are really working hard, but tempers are flaring. Everyone who gets sick reports to me ― I decide if it can be watched or if it’s worrisome. In two days there have been four ― one trauma to eye (corneal abrasion), two URIs, one diarrhea ― but no fevers. The person here before me leaves tomorrow ― so we had two days overlap.
Tomorrow I will go with our team to assess the cemetery, try and decide if there is capacity or if they need more land. The British military (met them last night) are ramping up but are basically not health people. They were asking us what they should do. Sort of reminded me of the clinic remodel in Livingstone. We told them we wanted to put them in charge of the dead bodies. They said okay but won’t touch or bury ― they will supervise and handle logistics.
Met a Major General today from Uganda ― here with African Union doctors and nurses ― wanted to know where we want to deploy them. It is a bit scary ― it seems CDC is in charge by default. Met the Chief Medical Officer (senior medical person at Ministry of Health) ― seems nice but not really getting things done. U.S. is sending lots of money but we are struggling to use it quickly and effectively ― not just line pockets. Amazing to me how NGOs come out of the woodwork when there is money.
The CDC team is quite capable ― I told them that my number one priority was their safety, number two was to stop the epidemic. Saturday I will travel a big loop covering the northern half of the country to visit our CDC field sites ― to encourage and make sure they are being safe. Next week I will make the southern loop to do the same. Basically the country is about half the size of Indiana with about 6 million people.
This story was sent to Presbyterian News Service by the Rev. Louis Haase, a retired Presbyterian minister in Skokie, Ill. He received permission from the Rev. James McAuley to share it with Presbyterian News Service. ― Jerry L. Van Marter
