Ebola: Dead nurse named as Justina Echelonu
The Abia state government has revealed the name of the nurse who attended to the late Liberian, Patrick Sawyer – credited with bringing Ebola into the country.
Obi Justina Echelonu (pictured), according to the Abia state government, was from the state and was a nurse at First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, Lagos, where Sawyer was admitted.
“My heart bleeds as I write this. On behalf of my family, the government and the good people of Abia state, I commiserate with the family, friends and colleagues of our dear lady nurse, Justina Echelonu, who died following the contact she had with the Liberian American, Mr Patrick Sawyer, in the course of discharging her duty as a nurse,” the special assistant to the Governor Theodore Orji on e-media, Obed Nnaji, wrote.
He wrote that the governor prayed that the Echelonus would bear the loss with fortitude.
In a post on her Facebook timeline, Justina wrote: “I never contacted his fluids. I checked his Vitals,helped him with his food.(he was too weak)…..i basically touched where his hands touched and dats d only contact.not directly wt his fluids.@a stage,he yanked off his infusion and we had blood everywhere on his bed…..but d ward maids took care of that and changed his linens with great precaution…”
She was later taken ill with the virus and was placed in isolation but she did not survive.
She was 25 years old.
This lady is the real heroine of this Ebola scourge. We should respect and honour all those on the frontline of this battle against Ebola, especially these who treated the index case and therefore saved Nigeria from a national health disaster.
The greatest thanks should go to the proprietors and managers of First Consultants Medical Centre who stopped Sawyer from travelling to Calabar to kill more Nigerians. God is great but we should also use our brains for once in these parts, to save our peoples from the scourge of diseases caused mainly by ignorance, illiteracy and sheer intellectual laziness.
No amount of prayers will substitute for hard work, intelligence, education and sheer proactiveness in problem solving. I really feel sorry for the Black Man in this kind of situations. The total helplessness and resort to religion and witchcraft for salvation is a racial disgrace. Who will save us?