Q: How long have you been a nurse?

AFC: I was trained between 2007 and 2011, and I started working at Lakka Government Hospital in March 2019 as a state and rural community health nurse (SECH).

Q: So you say you first learned about Ebola in 2014?

AFC: My first experience was to start an IV line for an Ebola positive patient. I was scared a bit, because I knew that if I made any mistake I would be risking my life. I was with a WHO doctor, who was helping me. I started the line, and the patient was able to take treatment. But I was really scared. I was so conscious about the openings [in my PPE]. My eyes, nose, ears, remembering that I should not touch my face. Even after working, I was scared to touch my face. After working, I went home and took a full bath. While I was working, I was living alone. I took my children to my mother. At the end of the outbreak, I was awarded by His Excellency and his wife. I was given a medal for my work throughout the Ebola outbreak.

Q: What was your experience as a woman working there in the Ebola Treatment Unit?

AFC: Initially, it was taking a long time to get the test results. Some of the men that we were admitting became agitated. They would say, “Nurse, if you don’t come with my results, and you come in front of me, I will tear into the PPE that you are wearing.” So sometimes we were afraid to go inside, especially if the test hadn’t been done yet. You don’t know the result, so you are afraid, because if they tear the PPE off you, you can be infected. Sometimes you had to cajole them, talk to them, you know. We only had one lab to do the tests, so please be patient.

Sometimes we had to lie to them. Tell them not to worry. The results will be out soon. And they would say, “If my results do not come on time, I will go. I will come out of isolation. I will rip the door and go outside if my test results don’t come.” I would never enter the unit without a male nurse or a doctor because sometimes the patients became agitated. And you cannot restrain them because the PPE is light and they will tear it.

Q: Were there any cultural barriers concerning Ebola? Cultural barriers, traditions, beliefs?

AFC: When people started dying, they said it was a witch plague. The community did not believe it was Ebola. Some people thought that we nurses were causing it, because we were giving them injections. Initially, we were stigmatized by people. But the government came in and stated, if anybody stigmatizes you an action will be taken against them. And the stigma reduced.

Q: How many nurses died when you were there?

AFC: There were many nurses that died in Kenema. What I think killed most of those nurses in Kenema was taking things from the treatment center and bringing them out. And remember, you don’t have anywhere to put something. If you take something, you have to open the PPE and put it inside your clothing – you have contact with your own physical body. That was the thing that killed most of the nurses in Kenema. They were bringing things out of the units.

Q: Do you think anything changed in terms of practices because of Ebola?

AFC: Yes. Before Ebola, when we had shortages of gloves, they would tell you to bring just one glove to do vitals. You would go without the other one. Since the outbreak, hand washing is more common. I’m used to it even in my house, even if I touch a small thing I go and wash my hands, because I think washing your hands can prevent many things from spreading. Because knowing or unknowing, unconscious, you will have touched something. You will touch your face. Handwashing is the best remedy. It can help a lot.

Q: Was there any impact on your personal life?

AFC: Well, when I was working during the outbreak my fiancé left me.

Q: Your fiancé left you?

AFC: Yes. He left me. He said because I was working with Ebola patients, I would come and infect him. And I said, okay, no problem.

Q: You’re back together now?

AFC: No. After the outbreak he wanted to come back. I said no, I am not interested. That time you should have stayed by me, you were not around. I don’t think I need you anymore. That was how we broke up.

Q: For the future, if there’s a next time, what do you think should be done differently?

AFC: If there is an outbreak, the government needs to come in right away. They did not come in early. Initially when it started, they were politicizing it. They said, oh, this is a politics thing. They were not serious about it. But I think now Sierra Leone has learned whenever there’s an outbreak, immediate action must be taken. I think health workers will not be afraid again because we have learned more. We have learned that if you protect yourself you will not be infected.

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Adella F. Combey was interviewed for Frontline Nurses by Annette Mwansa Nkowane on August 13, 2019 in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

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