Powering The Ebola Response: Monrovia’s Island Clinic

This is the first blog in our Daily Dispatches series in which we’ve teamed up with photojournalist Morgana Wingard, who is on the ground with USAID staff in Liberia documenting the fight on Ebola. Her photo series and blogs from the team will offer unique angles into the many facets of the Ebola story – from life inside a treatment center, to profiles of the health care workers battling Ebola from the front lines, to the many ways the epidemic is impacting the health, economy and future of the nation.

MONROVIA, Liberia—One of the saddest things about the Ebola outbreak in Liberia is the inability for many patients to get treatment. In Dolo Town recently, I watched a father carry his ailing son in a wheelbarrow to the clinic for treatment, but they did not have the capacity to help. He had been calling the government hotline for four days to no avail. A team of NGO workers proceeded to call the hotline again and a personal ambulance, but they also couldn’t get any help. All the treatment centers were full. In the end, the clinic sent him and his son home along with two other patients. Different versions of the same story have repeated across Monrovia for weeks. Liberians, trying to do the right thing, called the hotline and drove their loved ones to the hospital only to be denied entrance.

A father is devastated in Dolo Town after he was unable to get his son into an Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) . It’s unclear whether he has Ebola as he can’t get to a facility for testing — an all too common problem. The U.S. Government is helping build and staff several new facilities in Liberia. / Morgana Wingard

After hearing too many of these stories as I have documented the unfolding Ebola crisis over past weeks, the opening of another Ebola treatment unit (ETU) was a huge relief. With the help of USAID, the Liberian Government and the WHO opened the 100-bed facility on Sunday, September 21. To power the treatment center, USAID provided two generators, amongst other supplies. These generators are vital to the functioning of the clinic by providing power for lights, pumps for water, and washing machines to clean scrubs worn by health care workers under their personal protective equipment (PPEs).

Miata, a nurse we met, said all the health care workers ran from nearby Redemption Hospital, the largest government-run hospital in Liberia, at first. A doctor and several nurses on staff became infected with Ebola and died as the outbreak was beginning in Liberia. But when a team of Ugandan health care workers arrived in Liberia who had fought previous Ebola outbreaks in their own country, they called them together for a training workshop.

“That workshop inspired me to come back. If we don’t help the patients, who will?” Now, she is not afraid because she can cover herself with personal protective equipment before she enters the “hot zone” to provide food for patients fighting the Ebola virus. This new Island Clinic facility is helping. But many more beds and qualified health care workers are needed to meet the needs of growing numbers of patients.

Qualified health care workers’ interested in volunteering can go to http://www.usaid.gov/ebola/volunteers for information.

Here are some shots I took on our trip to Island Clinic on Monday.

The entrance for health care workers going into Island Clinic, a new Ebola Treatment Unit that opened in Monrovia, Liberia on Sept. 21, 2014 and within one day, reached capacity. The building was a Doctors without Borders hospital during Liberia’s Civil War. It was neglected for several years until the government, with help from the World Health Organization, transformed it into a 100-bed clinic in response to the surge of patients needing care due to the Ebola crisis that is hitting Liberia especially hard. Many people are calling the battle against the Ebola epidemic a “biological war” and now these same facilities that were used during the country’s long Civil War are finding a new use as Liberia struggles to contain the crisis. USAID has provided two generators to the facility which are providing power for lights, pumps for water, and washing machines to clean scrubs worn by health care workers under their personal protective equipment.

A family waits at the entrance to Island Clinic in Monrovia, Liberia, which was opened by the World Health Organization and the Liberian Ministry of Health in response to the surge of patients needing an Ebola Treatment Unit. Here, a health worker in protective gear tells the family to wait on the side as they open the doors for an ambulance to exit the facility. Before the facility opened on September 21, ambulances and patients arrived at the gates waiting to be admitted. Just a day after opening, the clinic is already at capacity. USAID has provided two generators and other supplies to equip the facility with life-saving care.

Health care workers put on personal protective equipment before going into the hot zone at Island Clinic, in Monrovia, Liberia on Sept. 22, 2014. The 100-bed clinic opened on Sept. 21, and within one day it is already at capacity after approximately 100 Ebola patients were moved from the nearby Redemption Hospital and ambulances brought other Ebola-stricken patients from the community. There are still more patients on the way. The facility was set up by the World Health Organization and Liberia’s Ministry of Health in response to the surge of patients needing an Ebola Treatment Unit. USAID has provided two generators and other supplies the facility.

Hygienists at the ebola treatment unit at Island Clinic in Monrovia wash health workers’ scrubs, a vital part of the operation at the new clinic, which opened September 21, 2014. Health workers at the clinic must follow extensive protocol to protect themselves. All scrubs worn under their personal protective equipment and shoes must be washed thoroughly in chlorine water and then with soap. While we were at Island clinic, one of the health workers told me why she was working here: “If we don’t help the patients, who will?” She said she is not afraid because she can cover herself with personal protective equipment before she enters the “hot zone” to provide food for patients fighting the Ebola virus.

A patient lies in a bed at the newly opened Island Clinic in Monrovia, Liberia on Sept. 22, 2014. The patient is getting an intravenous treatment – a crucial part of treatment for Ebola because the virus quickly dehydrates those it infects. However, using IV is also considered risky for health workers if they do not take proper precautions and not all treatment centers are using them. At the Island Clinic, a concrete wall and glass window offers those outside the clinica sobering view into the patient area. While I am standing less than a foot from this man, the perception is that I’m peering into a restricted and isolated world.

(All photos by Morgana Wingard)