05.10.2012 | BY AFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRY
Ebola: a virus, two epidemics (Alfonso Verdú, MSF emergency coordinator)
Kagadi Hospital (Uganda) where MSF launched an emergency intervention to fight Ebola. © MSF
Roger had Ebola. Besides treating him and strengthen him so he could fight a virus for which we have no vaccine, it was essential to keep spirits high and to give comprehensive assistance . To do this we videotaped messages crowd of family and friends, some dancing, others encouraging him, which will then project from the visitor's area on a large screen. At the end of the corridor we could see his huge smile that illuminated the flag of confirmed cases. A projection joined some of the people who were under our monitoring and retained the strength to get out of bed and go to the corridor that gives the visiting area. Mom or La Petite Charlotte Louise received the news that they would be forthcoming.
Emotional support to patients and their close circles affects their general welfare . That is why from the beginning we designed the Ebola Treatment Center (ETC) in a way that will have a series of open spaces where family and friends can look out to talk to them, guaranteeing a safe distance. A simple forecast whose consequences are extraordinary: the center, inhabited by real astronauts (due to the protective equipment that must be used) suddenly becomes human; families who thought their loved ones would be isolated from life, suddenly interact with them, the community, where it was rumored that whoever comes out alive with Ebola, is informed that there still occur sometimes miracles. http://www.msf.es/blog/africa-no-es-un-pais/2012/ebola-un-virus-dos-epidemias-por-alfonso-verdu-coordinador-emergencia
