Evangelist Franklin Graham who’s also the head of Christian humanitarian agency Samaritan’s Purse, is urging prayers for the ministry’s frontline workers as they care for ebola virus patients in central Africa, under what he described as increasingly difficult conditions that are “much worse than we initially thought.”
Samaritan’s Purse has opened two 40-bed ebola treatment centres in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in what Reverend Graham called “the epicentre of the outbreak.”
The facilities opened as concerns grew that the outbreak might be more widespread than initially believed.
Reverend Graham told The Christian Post: “We think it’s much more spread because it went undetected for several weeks.”
At last report, there had been 267 deaths and more than 1,000 cases confirmed in the DRC’s second-largest outbreak on record.
CHALLENGES OF SETTING UP AN EBOLA TREATMENT CENTRE
The evangelical relief organisation currently has 70 disaster assistance response team members serving in the region, including doctors, nurses, technicians and support personnel.
Reverend Graham explained that building and operating an ebola treatment centre requires far more than medical staff, such as people who know how to “keep things running.”
“Even though we do have a well, we have to run that water through a purification system and then put up our own storage container.”
“We can’t rely on the local power grid, so we take our own generators.”
“You have to have all this just so that you can begin to take patients.”
PROTECTIVE CLOTHING ABSOLUTELY VITAL FOR MEDICAL TEAM
One treatment centre was built from the ground up in Bunia, while the second was established in Nyankunde, near a hospital that Samaritan’s Purse has partnered with for years.
Most of the ministry’s personnel are based in Bunia, while local doctors and nurses operate the Nyankunde facility.
“You’ve got to have all the protective clothing,” Reverend Graham added.
“That is an issue and you cannot be partially covered. You just don’t put a mask on and walk in the room or have rubber gloves on over there.”
“Every bit of exposed skin has to be covered.”
MEDICAL STAFF CAN ONLY MANAGE 30-MINUTE SHIFTS
‘A person working in that environment can only work for about 30 minutes, and they have to come out,” Reverend Graham revealed.
“It’s because of the heat in that part of the world and then to be completely gowned with no air whatsoever, a person cannot do that more than 30 minutes.”
“We have to take them out. They have to be degowned.”
“All the clothing they had on has to be sprayed down with a Clorox-type solution and then they put their street clothes on and we take them into a place where they can get air conditioning and try to cool them down.”
“After a few hours, they go back in the treatment centre.”
“Our 70 staff members, they’re there for a month or so and then we rotate them out and get a new team in.”
MANY PATIENTS HAVE MALARIA WHICH HAS SIMILAR SYMPTOMS
Reverend Graham explained that every patient has to be treated as if they have malaria.
He said they’re all sick, but not all have ebola and the symptoms are similar.
The Samaritan’s Purse president recalled when the treatment centres opened, people were lined up in the street.
“They didn’t want to go to other treatment centres because they trusted us and wanted to come to ours.”
TESTING FOR EBOLA IS A MAJOR ISSUE
One major challenge is testing for the virus.
According to Reverend Graham, government-controlled testing can take four to eight days to produce results.
“Unfortunately, the tests right now are slow, and the government controls the testing.”
“If we had our own laboratory, we could test it and have a few hours turnaround on the test.”
“But right now it takes four to eight days, and it’s not been much better than that.”
SAMARITAN’S PURSE HOPES TO HAVE ANTIBODIES TO TREAT EBOLA
Reverend Graham said IV fluids are the main remedy offered to patients who come to the treatment centres.
He expressed hope that Samaritan’s Purse would soon have access to the antibodies that can treat ebola.
Commenting on the status of the outbreak, Graham lamented that it “appears as though it’s increasing.”
Samaritan’s Purse doesn’t intend to open any additional treatment centers in the DRC.
IT COULD TAKE MONTHS FOR THE EBOLA OUTBREAK TO DISSIPATE
Reverend Graham added that it might take several months for the ebola outbreak to dissipate.
“These things go on a cycle, and some people feel that this cycle will peak in about two to three weeks, and then it can be months for it to disappear.”
“So it has a natural life of its own.”
He also revealed that two of the 300 permanent Samaritan’s Purse staff in the DRC have died of the virus.
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