A task force in Monrovia, Liberia work to see if a recently deceased person was infected with the deadly Ebola virus. (Oct. 4)
SHOTLIST:
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Monrovia, Liberia – October 4, 2014
1. Ebola Response Team sign in vehicle rear window
2. Nimley standing outside home of an elderly woman, Kortee Gray, who died of unknown cause after being in poor health for several years
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Commissioner Samuel T. Nimley, Ebola Burial Task Force coordinator, Liberian National Police:
“For the convenience of the community, we are going to take her blood specimen to find out if the cause of death was Ebola.”
4. Various of Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare Ebola Response Team National Reference Lab workers suiting up in personal protective equipment (PPE)
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Pastor Francis Patterson, local churchman:
“In Liberia now, whatever death – people are attributing it to Ebola. So (the community mood) it’s a little bit nervous.”
6. Health workers entering Gray’s house
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Varney Gray, dead woman’s son:
“We are leaving my mother in this kind of sad situation, it’s not easy.”
8. Health worker Lomax exits home with syringe of blood taken from dead woman’s heart
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Commissioner Samuel T. Nimley, Ebola Burial Task Force coordinator, Liberian National Police:
“Until they get the result from the laboratory, they will treat that body as a positive (Ebola) case.”
10. Various of Ebola Task Force team member spraying Lomax with disinfectant
11. Funeral home workers carry stretcher into Gray’s home
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Commissioner Samuel T. Nimley, Ebola Burial Task Force coordinator, Liberian National Police:
“The funeral home will not touch the body until the cause of death is confirmed.”
13. Funeral home workers carry Gray’s body in a body bag out of her home on stretcher
14. Body being placed in hearse”
15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Seweli Lomax, Ministry of Health Ebola Response Task Force worker:
“I worry for them because the virus is very dangerous. If you are not careful you might likely infect yourself. So you have to be careful, you have to take your time to do your work.”
16. Funeral home worker removing his improvised protective gear with bare hands, risking contamination if it ultimately turns out that Gray tested positive for Ebola
STORYLINE:
The raging Ebola outbreak, which has taken more than 2,000 lives in Liberia, has made some people divert their careers from the usual path as part of joint efforts to contain the spread of the deadly disease.
Police Commissioner Samuel T. Nimley is usually in charge of police work involving Interpol matters. Lately, however, he has coordinated victim burial work for Liberia’s Ebola Task Force.
Saturday’s call-out brings Nimley and his team to the home of Kortee Gray, who died as of yet undetermined causes. The Gbankay Town neighbourhood of Monrovia has so far been Ebola free, but Nimley and his team take no chances.
Everyone on the scene suits up in personal protective equipment (PPE) to enter to take a blood sample from the corpse for lab testing to determine if the cause of death was the Ebola virus, in which case, the area would need to be quarantined.
“For the convenience of the community we are going to take her blood specimen to find out if the cause of death was Ebola,” Nimley says.
Nervous neighbors gather around to watch the activity taking place outside the Gray home. Pastor Francis Patterson, a local churchman, says all deaths seem to be attributed to Ebola and has affected the mood in the community. “It’s a little bit nervous,” he says.
Gray was sick with diabetes for several years, say family and neighbors. They say she sickened suddenly on Friday, suffering convulsions and showed few symptoms of Ebola. Her son, Varney Gray, said “we are leaving my mother in this sad situation, it’s not easy,” but he has little choice.
Wearing Dupont Tyvek protective suits, the workers enter the home to take a sample of blood with a syringe from Gray’s heart. “Until they get the result from the laboratory, they will treat that body as a positive (Ebola) case,” Nimley says. Following careful procedures, the trained health workers disinfect their suits prior to taking them off carefully.
Many deaths have been caused by a mistake in this undressing process. Gray’s family order a hearse to take the woman’s body for burial, according to what they say were her wishes. Nimley, however, has orders from higher up. “The funeral home will not touch the body until the cause of death is confirmed,” he says.
Health worker Seweli Lomax, who took Gray’s sample, is especially worried for the undertakers. “I worry for them because the virus is very dangerous. If you are not careful you might likely infect yourself. So you have to be careful, you have to take your time to do your work.”
When the morticians emerge, they are seen removing their suits with bare hands, risking contamination should the cause of death be Ebola. The funeral home is likely to keep the body in their morgue for the 48 hours it will take to get results on the blood drawn from Gray.
