The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is staggering and unimaginable in terms of magnitude of cases and overall mortality. Corporately, the international humanitarian community could not have anticipated the extent of this unparalleled outbreak, and coordinated global efforts have been significantly outpaced by exponential growth of this deadly disease. Traditional treatment methods of patient isolation and clinical management within Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) can no longer serve as the exclusive means of patient care. The staggering numbers of patients and inadequate numbers of qualified health care personnel have mandated a vastly unique three tiered “community-based” approach. Please join Dr. Lance Plyler as he reviews and explores the evolution from traditional clinical management to novel approaches of patient care rendered via community care centers and home based efforts.
Ebola has emerged as an extremely complex epidemic that has not only revealed a plethora of underlying problems in the affected countries, but calls for a complex and multi-faceted approach to address it. Adequate and appropriate treatment of Ebola is one aspect of the solution, but a solid public health response is essential to the cessation of this epidemic as well. In addition to the health-related measures that are required, understanding and addressing the cultural factors of the region plays a huge role in stopping the spread of the virus. Additionally, there is the monumental task of spiritual and psychosocial care which is needed, and to which the Church can and must respond. Come and learn more about the various roles available for those who want to engage this crisis from a non-clinical standpoint.
The 2014 Ebola outbreak has already killed more than 4000 people, and the end is not clearly in sight. During this session, we will put Ebola into context of other health problems in Africa and then review the presentations, diagnosis, management, and prevention of this devastating illness. We will also explore ways that we can get involved in battling Ebola, whether near to or far from West Africa.
The Next Generation of students, just like each generation before it, is different and is engaging the world in a new way. In order to effectively attract and retain these students, the church will have to adjust as well. Students no longer want to be a part of a church where they sit, listen and give an offering each week—students of this generation want to know where their money is going and to be a part of the movement. They want to engage in the mission of God in a tangible and real way. Because the entire world is available to them more than ever before, they want to be involved both locally and globally.
ELWA Hospital is a small SIM mission hospital near Monrovia, Liberia. When did we first hear about the impending threat of Ebola? What did we do? How did we prepare? What happened? Come and hear the story of Ebola coming to ELWA.
