Today is my last day, at least, for a while. I am leaving my position conducting health policy research at Minnesota Department of Health, and serving on the Brooklyn Park City Planning Commission, for a higher calling – Ebola Response Team Manager in Liberia. For me, this is a calling. Service appeals to my innermost consciousness, especially when the people you are to serve are in your homeland. While in Liberia, a team of highly motivated and dedicated diasporic Liberian clinicians and I will manage an Ebola Treatment Unit in a small, remote village called Fish Town near the border with the Ivory Coast. We will start with 10 beds and scale up to 60 beds. I will be responsible for the overall start-up, management and implementation of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance – funded Ebola response program administered by the Minnesota-based American Refugee Committee. Hearing the news of my departure, a colleague at work said: “You are one brave dude.” This is not about being brave or being heroic, I told him. I am neither; this is an opportunity to give back while helping to stop this deadly virus at its source. My talents may not be as great as the doctors and nurses I will be working with, but I can use them to reduce the suffering of others. I feel obligated to join in the fight against Ebola because I believe I have something to offer. And, I am at peace with my decision to help lead this response effort against the worst Ebola outbreak in history. I leave for Liberia on Thursday, December 4, but I will periodically provide update of our work in Fish Town, River Gee County, Liberia.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 23:19:16 +0000