“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked
was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what
will happen to me?’ But…the good
Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I
do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”
~Martin Luther King Jr.
I read this quote and it makes me think of what I've been reading about the Ebola virus outbreak. You read all these sources online and you see all the news coverage and it’s easy to become panicked. It’s easy to try to distance yourself from this infection and the people who have it. But then, you see pictures of the poor children who lost their parents, the parents who lost their children and those that are now alone because their entire families have been wiped out. If you were in any number of these circumstances, what would you do?
I’m writing this to give a different angle of this serious
subject matter…
First and foremost, educate yourself. Don’t rely on the news stations to keep you
accurately informed. Although there are
many news broadcasts that are honest and ethical, they of course are trying to
sell a story. Look to sources like the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the World Health
Organization (WHO). These are
organizations that are on the ground, in the trenches, at ground zero.
Second, don’t allow yourself to panic to the point that you
do no help in any way that you can. I am
not saying that everyone should rush into Sierra Leone or Liberia, but there
are ways you could help.
·
You can donate to the organizations that are in
the trenches like Doctors without Borders and the Red Cross.
·
Donate to organizations that are supplying the
medical staff such as AmeriCares and Unicef.
·
Look to your community. For instance, a Liberian community in Philadelphia
has been collecting and sending supplies overseas.
·
If you do have medical training, considering
volunteering your professional expertise through USAID.
Remember these facts about the Ebola virus…
·
Ebola can be spread by either direct contact,with
fluids (blood, urine, feces, saliva, vomit) containing the virus entering
mucous membranes (I.e. eyes, nose, ect.) and/or items that can contain infected
fluids (I.e. needles).
·
Although the disease cannot be spread by food
per se, animals can carry Ebola (which may be patient zero, or the first that contracted the disease). Animals
that can harbor Ebola include monkeys, bats and apes. These animals can in turn spread disease via
blood, urine, feces, saliva and vomit.
·
The disease can be spread through burial
practices as Ebola can remain virulent in bodily fluids.
·
Ebola can easily be killed with bleach and
water.
Don’t let fear impact how you can help. For more information check out these sites…
·
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC). Offers information on the Ebola
virus. http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/
·
World Health Organization (WHO). Offers information on the Ebola virus, an
up-to-date infection map and other valuable resources. http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en/
and http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
·
Doctors Without Borders. Can donate to help their efforts to combat
the disease. http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/our-work/medical-issues/ebola
·
AmeriCares.
An organization sending needed medical supplies and other resources for
medical personal on the ground in the affected countries. https://secure.americares.org/site/Donation2?df_id=17251&17251.donation=form1
·
“Local Community Rallies to Help Liberia Ebola
Outbreak.” News story on how a local
community is helping to combat the disease.
http://6abc.com/news/local-community-rallies-to-help-in-liberia-ebola-outbreak/334479/
·
“The Difficulty of Burying Ebola’s Victims.” Article on the Ebola Virus. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-ebola-outbreak-so-bad-sierra-leone-emergency-quarantine-180952218/?no-ist
If you know of other ways to help, post it here in the
comments. Let’s create a world community
that does not panic, but simply stays informed.
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