Kirsty Robertson, a Canadian registered nurse from Toronto working at the Red Cross Ebola Treatment Centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone /Photo credit: IFRC
In September, the Red Cross opened its
first Ebola treatment centre in Kenema, Sierra Leone, a district hard-hit by the outbreak. Toronto nurse Kirsty Robertson is a Canadian Red Cross delegate on a short-term deployment in the centre to aid in the Ebola response.
“We provide very basic nursing care, mostly encouraging patients to drink and eat, comfort cares, being with them,” said Kirsty. “It is not at all the horrible things I was imagining with patients suffering and dying all around. In fact, our cure rate is now 50 percent and we have a lot of happy discharges. I'm having a lot of fun working with the national nurses and I love my work here. It is definitely one of the most rewarding missions I've ever done and I'm very sad to be leaving so soon.”
The Canadian Red Cross is seeking personnel to continue these efforts to combat the Ebola outbreak. You can find more details at
redcross.ca/careers.
Canadians can help support these ongoing efforts by donating to the Canadian Red Cross
West Africa Ebola Fund.