Firestone Did What Governments Have Not: Stopped Ebola In Its Tracks

[cali]

<snip>

Harbel is a company town not far from the capital city of Monrovia. It was named in 1926 after the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, Harvey and his wife, Idabelle. Today, Firestone workers and their families make up a community of 80,000 people across the plantation.

Firestone detected its first Ebola case on March 30, when an employee's wife arrived from northern Liberia. She'd been caring for a disease-stricken woman and was herself diagnosed with the disease. Since then Firestone has done a remarkable job of keeping the virus at bay. Its built its own treatment center and set up a comprehensive response that's managed to quickly stop transmission. Dr. Brendan Flannery, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's team in Liberia, has hailed Firestone's efforts as resourceful, innovative and effective.

Currently the only Ebola cases on the sprawling, 185-square-mile plantation are in patients who come from neighboring towns.

<snip>

When the Ebola case was diagnosed, "we went in to crisis mode," recalls Ed Garcia, the managing director of Firestone Liberia. He redirected his entire management structure toward Ebola.

<snip>

"None of us had any Ebola experience," he says. They scoured the Internet for information about how to treat Ebola. They cleared out a building on the hospital grounds and set up an isolation ward. They grabbed a bunch of hazmat suits for dealing with chemical spills at the rubber factory and gave them to the hospital staff. The suits worked just as well for Ebola cases.

Firestone immediately quarantined the family of the woman. Like so many Ebola patients, she died soon after being admitted to the ward. But no one else at Firestone got infected: not her family and not the workers who transported, treated and cared for her.

<snip>

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/10/06/354054915/firestone-did-what-governments-have-not-stopped-ebola-in-its-tracks

[Heidi]

1. Kick, kick, kick!!!

[Lee-Lee]

2. This shows what a modern, planned response will achieve

And should serve as an example to all the chicken littles yelling about ebola in the USA.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

3. It doesn't sound very planned if they were scouring the internet for information after they wre hit.

I'm not criticizing them -- or you -- just sayin'.

[seabeyond]

11. we have yet to hear of another case reported in texas, right? another point. firestone

did not have every one focused on their every move so ya.... looks like it went totally flawless in perfection. could have had as many stumbles as texas. recently in containment. no others with symptoms

[1Greensix]

5. One case is NOT the War

Stopping one case of Ebola is Not the last of their problems. Soon they will have hundreds, if not thousands of neighboring victims asking for help, and their system will break down just as any country's will when faced with millions of patients in the Spring.
Do the numbers. Ebola patients Double every twenty days. Once it gets to India and Southeast Asia it will kill billions by Fall.

[cali]

6. I suggest you read the whole article.

stop with the fear mongering. There is no fucking way that billions will be killed by fall. Not to mention, dear, that it IS fall right now.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

8. It's not airborne...

You have to come in contact with bodily fluids of an infected person. Proper hygiene is a great preventative measure. Avoiding physical contact with an infected person negates your chance of getting the virus. Notice that it's affecting third world countries. It has to do with public health and infrastructure. Access to clean water and proper sanitation will eradicate this virus.

The sky is not falling.

[salib]

7. Ah yes, the wonders of the Company Town

Just think what would have happened if it was determined that it was cheaper to up and move to the next banana republic.

[cali]

9. this isn't about how company towns suck or colonialism. It's about

what they are doing vis a vis ebola.

[salib]

10. Not arguing with any of that.

Just reminding people of what a Company Town is before we see all sorts of praises.

[Javaman]

14. +1000!!! nt

[morningfog]

12. The CDC says this outbreak can be contained with 70%

of the infected being in treatment centers and properly buried upon death. I was surprise that it wouldn't take 100%

[Javaman]

13. Ah yes, if only everyone in Liberia worked for Firestone!

all hail the corporation!

life is never as simple as the corporations would lead us to believe.

[salib]

15. Amen.

[cali]

16. sigh. this isn't a paean to Firestones or corporations. It's about practices

and containing a disease.

[Javaman]

17. And just how do you think firestone developed those same practices?

via the CDC.

all hail the corporations!!!

they will protect us!