Fighting the Ebola Scourge
When I first saw the Blackberry Broadcast Messages, I thought it was one of those messages again, you know the type that you read and at the end you are told that if you don't forward to ten people in the next three seconds, then what happened in September 1824 will happen again. As usual I didn't bother.
Then the next day in the office, my boss called for an emergency meeting and he said Ebola is in town, "DO NOT go to any hospital to film without first telling me. You will need protective wears, permission and supervision from WHO and Doctors Without Borders to do that, wash your hands regularly, use hand sanitizers, use protective gloves, do this, don't do that!" Wow! What? So its true? The dreaded Ebola Virus Disease is finally in Nigeria? God help us!
Well After that meeting, the next couple of weeks saw us working and filming anything that had to do with Ebola. The market, interviews with doctors at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital, the airport, several press conferences at the Ministry of Health in Alausa and all of that. Was going through Linda Ikejis blog the other day and I saw a picture of moi in my little blue dress, trying to keep my microphone on the press conference table, well gradually becoming a celebrity, unnoticed celebrity, LOL.
Then came the fun side, trust Nigerians to always make fun of everything, no matter how serious the situation is. We saw the Ebola hug, the Ebola kiss, the Ebola handshake and the mother of all...bathing with salt water, with a dash of anointing oil inside! Whoops! Okay na!
Anyway, Patrick Sawyer gave a first class ticket to that disease to find its way to Nigeria. Sometimes I want to get mad at him for doing that, but then I take a pause and I say to myself its actually a good thing the virus came in through a foreigner, if one person from one over crowded location in Lagos had brought in the Ebola Virus, we would be singing a different song now. Maybe he or she would have gone to the hospital, maybe not, but I know for sure that he would have been treated for malaria and typhoid (+++ as usual), and he may have died without people knowing what killed him, we would have had a serious epidemic on our hands.
I also appreciate the efforts of First Consultants Hospital, Obalende for their display of professionalism in reporting the Sawyer guy and refusing to discharge him when he asked for it. The management and staff of that hospital took a giant step and made a huge sacrifice knowing that the Ebola fear may forever stop people from going to that hospital, no matter the go ahead they get from the government that all is clear. Trust Nigerians and stigmatization, e go hard to go back there. I also heard that The Hunters' Association are complaining of poor sales owing to the fact that no one buys bush meat from them again, hehehehe!
To all the primary contacts who have lost their lives so far, nurse Justina Ejelonu, Doctor Stella Ameyo Adadevoh, you are all national heroes. You died doing your jobs and you died to save millions of Nigerians. God bless your souls and protect your families. To all the secondary contacts, I pray you find healing.
I sincerely hope we see the last of this disease, and that the country is able to contain it, and soon too.
Before I forget, did Sawyer"s wife seriously write that piece about her husband coming to Nigeria to seek better health care? An American citizen coming to Nigeria for better health care? I hear!
And just when we thought the virus was about to be over, the Port Harcourt episode happened!
On a lighter note, did you bath with salt water? Did you drink it?
Click this link for the story 1
Click this link for story 2
Clink here for the Linda Ikeji page *winks*
Then the next day in the office, my boss called for an emergency meeting and he said Ebola is in town, "DO NOT go to any hospital to film without first telling me. You will need protective wears, permission and supervision from WHO and Doctors Without Borders to do that, wash your hands regularly, use hand sanitizers, use protective gloves, do this, don't do that!" Wow! What? So its true? The dreaded Ebola Virus Disease is finally in Nigeria? God help us!
Well After that meeting, the next couple of weeks saw us working and filming anything that had to do with Ebola. The market, interviews with doctors at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital, the airport, several press conferences at the Ministry of Health in Alausa and all of that. Was going through Linda Ikejis blog the other day and I saw a picture of moi in my little blue dress, trying to keep my microphone on the press conference table, well gradually becoming a celebrity, unnoticed celebrity, LOL.
Then came the fun side, trust Nigerians to always make fun of everything, no matter how serious the situation is. We saw the Ebola hug, the Ebola kiss, the Ebola handshake and the mother of all...bathing with salt water, with a dash of anointing oil inside! Whoops! Okay na!
Anyway, Patrick Sawyer gave a first class ticket to that disease to find its way to Nigeria. Sometimes I want to get mad at him for doing that, but then I take a pause and I say to myself its actually a good thing the virus came in through a foreigner, if one person from one over crowded location in Lagos had brought in the Ebola Virus, we would be singing a different song now. Maybe he or she would have gone to the hospital, maybe not, but I know for sure that he would have been treated for malaria and typhoid (+++ as usual), and he may have died without people knowing what killed him, we would have had a serious epidemic on our hands.
I also appreciate the efforts of First Consultants Hospital, Obalende for their display of professionalism in reporting the Sawyer guy and refusing to discharge him when he asked for it. The management and staff of that hospital took a giant step and made a huge sacrifice knowing that the Ebola fear may forever stop people from going to that hospital, no matter the go ahead they get from the government that all is clear. Trust Nigerians and stigmatization, e go hard to go back there. I also heard that The Hunters' Association are complaining of poor sales owing to the fact that no one buys bush meat from them again, hehehehe!
To all the primary contacts who have lost their lives so far, nurse Justina Ejelonu, Doctor Stella Ameyo Adadevoh, you are all national heroes. You died doing your jobs and you died to save millions of Nigerians. God bless your souls and protect your families. To all the secondary contacts, I pray you find healing.
I sincerely hope we see the last of this disease, and that the country is able to contain it, and soon too.
Before I forget, did Sawyer"s wife seriously write that piece about her husband coming to Nigeria to seek better health care? An American citizen coming to Nigeria for better health care? I hear!
And just when we thought the virus was about to be over, the Port Harcourt episode happened!
On a lighter note, did you bath with salt water? Did you drink it?
Click this link for the story 1
Click this link for story 2
Clink here for the Linda Ikeji page *winks*
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