Friends of Liberia donations to Ebola Relief has reached the $36,000 mark this week with grants to three more organizations. Summer donations of $16,000 were split three ways for local needs that were identified by a special task force, made up of board members, officers and members who are in touch with organizations in Liberia. FOL chose to give $8,000 to support the revival of the Catholic Hospital and its network of clinics that closed after the loss of their administrator to Ebola early in the epidemic. The remainder was divided between Refuge Place, a Liberian-run clinic in Monrovia and Women’s Campaign International, which supports the National Rural Women’s Program In Liberia.
Sister Barbara at blackboard
Under the auspices of Sister Barbara Brillant, Dean of Mother Patern College of Health Sciences in Monrovia, the staff of the Catholic hospital system is being trained in dealing with the full array of medical emergencies while protecting themselves against the infection by Ebola.
On hearing of the FOL grant, Sister Barbara wrote: “This is so great as we are starting our training this week at Catholic Hospital and then next week sending a group to Cape Palmas and another to Gbarnga for training in health facilities with a truck of Personal Protective Equipment. Every little bit helps. You may be aware many of our pregnant women continue to die during childbirth because many hospitals are shut down or the few that are open are very afraid to get involved in delivery as it poses very serious risk of Ebola infection in the absence of protective gears.”
“Many of the operating clinics are still faced with the lack of these essential protective gears and thus pregnant women are now the victims. This is also causing the deaths of many children from common illness like malaria (which has fever similar to Ebola) and diarrhea (similar to Ebola) . . . our health system is paralyzed as over 70 health workers have died from the Ebola virus.”
Refuge Place International will provide free health care near Chicken Soup Factory.
Another recipient of FOL donations is Refuge Place Clinic near Chicken Soup Factory, under the auspices of Dr. Mosoka Fallah, a microbiologist who has been working on checking the spread of Ebola and who began Refuge Place some years ago to address the needs of those newly arrived in Monrovia. He reported: “We at Refuge Place Clinic decided that we will re-open our doors to provide 100 percent free treatment to pregnant women and children. But to reduce the risk of infection to our health care workers, we decided to consult with the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide training to our workers on infection control and identifying Ebola patients.”
Finally, Women’s Campaign International (WCI), whose executive director, Nancy Wallace, was with the first Peace Corps Response group into Liberia after the war, is working with the National Rural Women’s Program to identify specific needs of Ebola affected communities. She is assisted in Liberia by Monica Gadkari, (RPCV Romania) a graduate in public administration from Columbia University. In their network of 200 rural communities, they have identified a dozen communities affected by Ebola. The $4,000 grant from Friends of Liberia will help them respond quickly to local needs identified by their network. Communities need fuel to remove suspected Ebola victims, food for quarantined homes and neighborhoods, and communications on how to keep safe in infected areas. WCI has a photo-based safety training segment for their rural women leaders.
Grant recipients will report back with photos and personal stories as they apply the money to their local needs. FOL has a goal of raising $100,000 for Ebola-related needs. When donating, please specify Ebola Fund on your check or Paypal donation.