This was his first mission for Handicap International. It has several aspects. First, we transport patients from their dwellings to Ebola testing centers.
Second, we decontaminate their dwellings. At the same time we inform the family and surrounding community about what we are doing and how they can protect themselves. Finally we bring the vehicles, both the ambulances and the decontamination vehicles, back to our base in Hastings for a final decontamination. Before this project started an centralized ambulance service for Ebola patients did not exist in Freetown. The local ambulance services do not transport Ebola patients.
Transporting Ebola patients requires highly skilled and highly trained professional ambulance drivers and attendants. The dwelling decontaminations must also be done under the strictest of standard operating procedures.
The decontamination of the vehicles back at Hastings also requires special skills. We have detailed standard operating procedures for every task and each staff member must master the tasks they are assigned to perform through training and practice.
The primary safety factor that we use to ensure that workers remain safe is a team concept. Nobody enters a contaminated area alone and people are always supervised by observers not actively participating in the decontamination operations. By using this team approach we make sure that everybody remains safe and follows the protocols that we established for their safety. The primary personal protective equipment PPE that we use is the coverall.
