Ebola - Another Side of the Story. The Scary Side!

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I remember when news about HIV first became public. People were scared and rightly so, because very little was known about this disease. Even though I was much younger at the time, I will never forget the whispers. The whispers when someone died and neighbors thought it should be of HIV. The whispers when someone lost too much weight than the neighbors deemed was necessary. The whispers when someone was deemed unfaithful by the whispering neighbors, who felt it was their right to diagnose people of HIV infection.

This was not too bad, as it remained what it was - whispers!

Then these patients went to the hospitals, and were diagnosed by scientific means. They began to see the subtle changes in the healthcare team when they cared for them. They began to notice that some healthcare workers even went as far as whisper these test results to the whispering neighbors, and this time the whispers were confirmed by science.

These patients realized that they were being STIGMATIZED! So what happened was the scariest part. People stopped trusting the healthcare system. They stopped carrying out HIV testing, because the system became "THEY" and patients became "WE". The system lost the authority it had to contain this virus and it wreaked havoc in a lot of communities. By the time some order could be put to this madness, a lot of damage had been done.

I have the same fears when it comes to Ebola. It is not only the fact that some people have seen this as a huge opportunity to stigmatize people from a whole continent. It is also the fact that some of those people on social media, are calling themselves nurses, doctors, lab technicians etc. I fear that this may become an "US" and "THEM" game once again, but only on a larger scale.

I have always thought that nursing is a way of life. You do not stop being a nurse because your shift is over, and you clocked out of your work place. People still look up to you, whether you like it or not. I feel that it is a moral obligation for nurses to not only educate themselves on what Ebola really is (and is not), but also to pick up a map of Africa and actually look at it. It is important for nurses everywhere in the world to realize that Africa is a continent (the second largest). It is important for nurses especially, and other healthcare workers to know which countries are known to be involved in the present outbreak, so that we do not discredit our profession by feeding the chaos.

It is very scary when nurses post on social media that Ebola is air borne (H-e-l-l-o? What happened to evidence-based practice?). It is even scarier to post that they are scared to go to work because a colleague visited Kenya, which is in East Africa and a thousand miles from the affected West African countries (And what happened to cultural competence? And a short lesson in geography?). And even scarier and scarier when nurses share and like stories about quarantining visitors from South Africa because of the outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. It cannot get worse when nurses ask questions like why other nurses and doctors were allowed to carry out humanitarian services in these countries.

Unbeknownst to a lot of nurses, they are looked upon as leaders in the community. Their opinion on health related issues is taken by some as the gospel truth. And I am scared to mention that at this point, the public is so scared that they are looking for some sort of guidance - any kind of guidance! If a nurse at this point should have an opinion on Ebola, at least let it be an informed one .The other day, an African friend told me that when they said they were from West Africa " the nurse looked at me as if I had Ebola" . This same person said they were seriously considering not admitting to being West African when visiting the hospital. That sent a chill down my spine, because I cannot imagine how dangerous it is for people to withhold such information.

Imagine for a minute that people are so scared of stigmatization that they do not go to the hospital to be tested for Ebola? Or that they chose to seek help from alternative medicine when experiencing symptoms of Ebola? Or they break their travel up, entering countries from other countries and not admitting their country of origin? It will be a disaster! We need the public to trust the healthcare system now more than ever. In my opinion, the scare tactics are best left to the politicians. At least their ignorance is almost always forgiven. However, we need exceptional nurses who can stay calm in the midst of chaos, and educate themselves and the public about what Ebola really is.

Knowledge is power!

Ebola - Another Side of the Story. The Scary Side!

Nurses generally are handling this ebola outbreak in a professional manner

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