Caring for the Caregivers

The pictures are chilling.  Mounting graves to welcome the dead.  The US has quietly come to the aid of Liberia by building state of the art medical centers and sending healthcare workers from the Public Health Service including my brother Paul.
I’m fascinated with the mission of our caregivers.  They are specifically coming to Liberia to treat the healthcare workers in Liberia who are infected with Ebola.  The health care system in Liberia is on the brink of collapse because so many doctors and nurses are infected.
Caregivers are more prone to the disease because the fact that they care puts them in close proximity to disease.  The act of caring opens one up to  significant risk.
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The level of help needed in Liberia is overwhelming.  There is no way our small unit of health care workers can make a dent in stopping the disease UNLESS they target the caregivers.
So Paul is working at a hospital specifically for caregivers so they can return to giving care and learn new ways to protect themselves from diseases.
There is hope for stopping the plague if the caregivers are healthy.  The spiritual lessons are clear in this.  Our society is in trouble.  Our teachers, those who keep the peace and our healthcare workers are under tremendous stress.  If you want to make a difference in our world.  Care for the caregivers.  If they are healthy, we can stem the tide.

Fresh graves to welcome the dead.

Paul preparing for his first Ebola patient.
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Paul Nordstrom and the acting Surgeon General.