Local Health Care Workers Urged To Fight Ebola In Liberia
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A specific group of Minnesotans is being asked to consider traveling to the area where Ebola is at its worst--West Africa. The people being urged are native Liberian health care workers.
They filled a room in Brooklyn Center Saturday to ask questions about the risks as Rep. Keith Ellison explained the need for Liberian-Americans to help the CDC fight Ebola.
One of the people who showed up at the Brooklyn Center Fire Department was Badude Zawu-Roberts. Her 31-year-old daughter just died from the virus. She was living in Liberia and working as a nurse.
"She was a wonderful person, always smiling," Roberts said.
The grieving grandmother showed up to ask questions in a packed room to a Ellison and a state health executive, asking what will happen to her grandson, who is now an orphan.
Ellison admitted he didn't have the answer but said he and the assistant commissioner of the Department of Health would do what they can for local grieving families and for health care workers who need proper protection.
They urged Liberian-born health care workers to consider volunteering in Liberia. Said Ellison, "We need people to go to West Africa, we need people with medical credentials."
The request prompted great interest and great concern.
Nyeba Manston-Dunbar is a registered nurse and public health nurse who is also a native of Liberia.
"Safety, protecting your families here and also job security--I think [those] are the big things for a lot of Liberians, Liberian-Americans who want to go home," she said.
The Department of Health is trying to come up with a plan for our area, since we have such a large Liberian population. The department's looking into how they would triage patients, even considering a free-standing Ebola treatment center.
One thing the department is asking of everyone is to get your flu shot, because symptoms resemble Ebola, they say they don't want ER's clogged up with people who think they have Ebola.