Ebola survivor to future nurses: ‘I challenge you; don’t be afraid’
ATLANTA - An American woman treated for the Ebola virus at Emory University Hospital said health care workers continue to learn more about the disease she contracted in 2014 while volunteering in the west African country of Liberia.
Nancy Writebol recently addressed nursing students in Atlanta, about two years after she arrived at the university’s hospital on a stretcher for treatment in a specialized unit for contagious diseases.
“Vaccinations are being worked on, (the experimental drug) ZMapp is being perfected and studies are going forward,” Writebol said in an interview after speaking to students Friday. “We’re encouraged by that.”
More than 11,000 people in West Africa died of the virus starting in 2014, according to the World Health Organization. Writebol was the second American to arrive at Emory after contracting the disease while working at a Liberian hospital. Her duties included helping to disinfect doctors and nurses who worked with Ebola patients.
Four Americans were treated and recovered from the disease that summer at Emory.
After recovering, Writebol returned to Liberia in March 2015 as a volunteer with the North Carolina-based charity SIM along with her husband, David.
Writebol told nursing students starting a new school year that they should follow the example set by health care workers who treated her in Emory’s isolation unit.
“To the Ebola team of nurses: You are the best,” she said. “Students, I challenge you. Be the best of the best. Stand in the gap. Don’t be afraid. Wear that uniform with pride.”