Scottish Ebola nurse joins coronavirus frontline
David Anderson worked in Sierra Leone during the ebola epidemic.
A Scottish nurse is using his experience tackling Ebola to help spearhead the battle against coronavirus.
David Anderson from Montrose has worked on UK aid responses around the world including in Sierra Leone where he was deployed to assist with the Ebola outbreak in December 2014.
The 51-year-old has now returned from South Africa to take on a role at NHS Nightingale North West in Manchester, a facility set up specifically in response to the covid-19 outbreak. He is seconded from his job as a Humanitarian Health Advisor with the UK-Med charity.
David says, “Ebola had a mortality rate of 80 per cent when I arrived in Sierra Leone and there were some horrendously dark days.
“I have had the privilege of working around the world in many different contexts with some special individuals and teams, although, I never believed my outbreak experience gained with UK-Med would be required in the UK.
“It is and has been inspiring to work with colleagues to ensure we can and will deliver the highest possible level of care in these most challenging of conditions.
“My endearing wish is that the Nightingale facilities will never be required to operate fully, as this will mean that we have contained COVID-19, and limited this most difficult of diseases.”
The Department for International Development (DFID) has so far pledged £744million to halting the global spread of the disease.
DFID works with UK-Med to send British nurses and doctors abroad to humanitarian disasters to help contain outbreaks.
David adds, “The experience and expertise that we have gained from battling outbreaks like Ebola will be invaluable to beating coronavirus.
“UK aid helped develop the Ebola vaccine and that has been a game-changer in dealing with the Ebola threat in the most recent outbreak in DR Congo.
“The research already done on previous coronaviruses like MERS and SARS and lessons learned will also give us a good grounding to develop a potential vaccine for COVID-19.
“In 2014 I worked in an Ebola treatment centre with 106 patients and 80 per cent of them were dying. One of my worst days was I went out to a small clinic and picked up two 24-day-old twins, who both turned out to have Ebola and died on their 25th day.
“That work has prepared me mentally for dealing with COVID-19 and it does help you understand how to respond, particularly in terms of preventative measures to protect health workers and the wider community.
“At the moment coronavirus has a mortality rate of around three per cent. We can – and we will – beat this.”
“It is always tough as a frontline worker whether it be Ebola, H1-N1, SARS, or COVID-19. It’s physically demanding and emotionally draining, so it can be quite difficult for individuals.
“As we have tragically seen with coronavirus, health workers working their hardest to prevent the spread have died, but there is always a risk associated with medical care.
“Something like this outbreak brings it into sharp focus with the public, but for NHS nurses and doctors, part of what we do is put our health on the line to do our job.
“You cannot help but to occasionally feel unwell and fear the worst, especially as the response goes on and you become more and more tired doing long days of really exhausting work.
International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said, “I am proud that brave EMT medics like David are using the expertise and experience gained from responding to humanitarian crises around the world, to help our NHS in the fight against coronavirus.
“This shows how using UK aid to provide medical expertise to the poorest countries to tackle health crises like Ebola also helps the UK. Not only have our brave doctors and nurses saved many lives worldwide, but they have gained knowledge and skills that are now proving crucial in combating coronavirus back home.”
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