Brother's Brother Sending Supplies To Africa In Fight Against Ebola
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - As Ebola continues to spread in West Africa, a locally-based international charity is stepping in to help.
The images out of West Africa are heartbreaking.
Thousands of men, women and children have been devastated by Ebola.
People around the world are stepping in to help stop the deadly outbreak and Pittsburgh is no exception.
A crew with the Brother's Brother Foundation on the North Side is loading and sending a 40-foot ocean-going container to Sierra Leone.
"It's a combination of what's called personal protection equipment, that would be face masks, that would be goggles to protect the eyes, that would be gloves, that would be isolation gowns, surgical gowns that have barriers against fluids," Luke Hingson said.
They are also sending giant containers of liquid soap and boxes of sanitizing tablets that are strong enough to kill HIV and the Ebola virus on surfaces.
These supplies, donated by health care facilities all over the country, will be distributed to more than 50 hospitals and clinics in need.
"As the disease rises in numbers, they are creating more and more Ebola centers that need people who can wash them and clean them and take care of them and therefore, the consumption for these items is growing not shrinking," Hingson said.
Today's shipment isn't the only that will be headed to Africa from their warehouse. All of these supplies will go to either Liberia or Sierra Leone.
Today's shipment will take about two months to arrive in Sierra Leone.
"We've helped with cholera outbreaks and other types of diseases before, but this is a really intense effort," Hingson said.
Brother's Brother says monetary contributions from the Pittsburgh community are more important than ever.
It costs about $6,000 to send a shipment of this size to West Africa.
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