The Pittsburgh-based medical relief foundation Brother’s Brother has been trying to distribute medical aid throughout Western Africa since an outbreak of the Ebola virus began last spring. More than 1350 lives have been claimed by the virus, many were health care workers, according to the World Health Organization.
Luke L. Hingson, President of Brother’s Brother explains what workers face when treating people with Ebola.
“When people die in a hospital there is a feeling among the workers - should I go back to work? So you have smaller staffs helping these patients that have Ebola, plus, they have to carry out the regular work of the hospital.”
Hingson also explains how the 56 year-old foundation is keeping up with demand for these items in the affected regions.
“There is a need for 6 million exam gloves over the next sixth months," says Hingson. "They have a supply right now of maybe two weeks, maybe three weeks. There is help coming. Every single medical person, not only wants to wear one exam glove, they want to put on two or three. There’s just such a risk of exposure, you get a pinprick of some type and the fluid gets through. There’s a much faster consumption of these medical supplies than ever before.”
“It’s taxing us," he goes on to say. "We send a lot of things to people in a lot of different countries, 2,000 other hospitals and clinics … that means other medical facilities in other countries aren’t getting these things. We’re adjusting, but it means hardships for other hospitals we might want to help … We are from Pittsburgh. The world is very big and the problem is very big. It’s bigger than us.”
Visit the Brother's Brother website for more information on how to donate money and gifts in kind.
