Building Ebola Treatment Units to Foster Hope, Healing in Liberia

Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai, middle, gets a tour of the U.S.-built Tubmanburg Ebola treatment unit from USAID partner International Organization for Migration, which will be running the facility / Carol Han, USAID/OFDA

In the Bomi Hills northwest of Monrovia, in an area that used to be the region’s iron and diamond mining center, it’s hard to miss the new “precious resource” that has become critical to Liberia’s fight against Ebola.

Four stark white tents gleam in the sun, the most prominent part of the new Ebola treatment unit (ETU) in Tubmanburg, which is the first ETU to be built and staffed by the United States in Liberia.

Liberian Army Capt. Glee Dilliard Dada led a team of Liberian soldiers who worked closely with the U.S. military to build the facility. Despite the rain, heat and construction setbacks, the Ebola treatment unit was built in 35 days / Carol Han, USAID/OFDA

Construction on the 2-acre site was overseen by the U.S. Defense Department in close partnership with the Armed Forces of Liberia. More than 60 people had to overcome the rain, heat, poor roads and supply shortages to build the site in 35 days, completing the ETU earlier this month.

“Especially in this time of national crisis, it has been rewarding to be out here and assisting,” said Armed Forces of Liberia Capt. Glee Dilliard Dada, who supervised the Liberian military construction crew. “I am very overwhelmed with a lot of pride. In a month’s time we did all of this.”

The Ebola treatment unit (ETU) in Tubmanburg is the first ETU to be built and staffed by the United States in Liberia / Carol Han, USAID/OFDA

USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team leader Bill Berger called the ETU an extraordinary effort, saying, “It took strong partnership to build this ETU. It will also take strong partnership to provide care to patients.”

USAID partner the International Organization of Migration, or IOM, has stepped forward to manage the ETU under the leadership of the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. For the past two weeks, IOM’s medical team—made up of local and international health care workers—received rigorous training on Ebola patient care, safety protocols and ETU management.

Within the 2-acre site is a changing area where local and international staff with the International Organization for Migration will be donning goggles and other protective equipment to care for patients. / Carol Han, USAID/OFDA

More than 120 members of IOM’s team are now prepared to care for patients. Tejanie Golafaley, a local resident and Ebola survivor, is especially eager to speak to patients at the ETU about his experience beating the disease.

“When I got Ebola, people didn’t want to come around me. I was stigmatized by Ebola,” Golafaley said. “The best thing I can do is talk to [patients] …. I’m going to tell them I’m a survivor. I want to give them hope.”

Tejanie Golafaley, an Ebola survivor, saw it as his personal mission to work at the USAID-supported Ebola treatment unit in Tubmanburg. “I want to explain my story to patients [so that] they can start to take courage.” / Carol Han, USAID/OFDA