Generosity helping in fight against Ebola

Health care workers in Liberia are gowned, masked and sprayed down so they can help Ebola patients and not contract the disease. Donations from Langley have helped in the response to the disease.

— image credit: Photo courtesy of the Korle-Bu Neuroscience Foundation

The Langley-based Korle-Bu Neuroscience Foundation has been busy these past months, responding to the Ebola crisis in Liberia.
Marj Ratel, founder and director of KBNF, said to date, they have shipped four containers, three being received and one enroute.
They have eight more containers waiting to go. So far, 685 hospital beds are committed, coming from parts of Canada from here to Ontario. This week, KBNF is receiving 100-plus beds from Vancouver General Hospital alone.
“One thousand (beds) will become a reality I believe, this year,” said Ratel, a registered nurse.
The foundation committed last fall to collect 1,000 hospital beds and ship them to Liberia. That will require 18 containers, and shipping will cost about $5,000 per container.
“Just last week, we received a carload of clothing and shoes from a family south of Fraser Highway,” she said of the donations happening locally.
Their contributions will be going on the next shipment. The response from the Langley community has been touching, she said. Rotary clubs are also looking to help.
Ratel said Ebola has been heartbreaking and devastating, with hospital staff sharing stories and pictures of the wake of death and despair this disease leaves.
“Thankfully there have been no new cases in Liberia in over 26 days,” said Ratel.
KBNF is a registered charity that focuses mainly on providing medical support for brain and spinal injuries and other diseases for people of Ghana and other parts of West Africa.

The foundation has established a well-equipped teaching hospital on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana’s capital, and it treats patients from across West Africa.