{"id":1100,"date":"2015-12-14T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2015-12-14T14:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blogs\/?p=1100"},"modified":"2018-02-01T09:28:06","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T14:28:06","slug":"aecoms-dalziel-leads-the-charge-against-ebola-in-sierra-leone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/aecoms-dalziel-leads-the-charge-against-ebola-in-sierra-leone\/","title":{"rendered":"AECOM\u2019s Dalziel leads the charge against Ebola in Sierra Leone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine you, your family and your community are facing a rare and deadly viral infection that causes severe bleeding and organ failure. That is reality for communities in Africa affected by the scourge of Ebola virus disease, which is fatal if left untreated. In impoverished countries with weak governments, a highly contagious virus like Ebola can quickly overwhelm an underfunded and poorly staffed healthcare system.<\/p>\n

With nowhere else to find medical care and comfort, people turn to their communities, exposing friends and family to the virus. The mortality rate for Ebola ranges from 50 to 90 percent, and since it is transmitted through bodily fluids, Ebola can be spread to a mother wiping the sweat from her child\u2019s forehead or a husband feeding and bathing his wife. Those close to you were a threat, and at the height of the epidemic, fear hung like a great weight over the country. This could not stand.<\/p>\n

In February, I left for Freetown, Sierra Leone, where I spent six months as the volunteer site engineer at Connaught Hospital \u2014 the country\u2019s premier medical facility \u2014 assisting with planning and constructing medical infrastructure to combat Ebola.<\/p>\n

\"oldWith an understanding of the current condition we could then begin planning to remove the old red zone and the fear it had created for so long.<\/em><\/p>\n

Our team of volunteers discovered \u201cred zones\u201d \u2014 Ebola isolation units \u2014 with the largest located at the main entrance to Connaught. To reduce the risk of this red zone infecting the main hospital campus, we developed a plan:<\/p>\n

First, construct a permanent, purpose-built tuberculosis (TB) clinic in a nearby building; transfer TB patients there.<\/p>\n

Second, reconstruct\/repurpose the old TB clinic into Sierra Leone\u2019s first-ever infectious disease (ID) clinic (see main image above). Vacate the old temporary isolation unit.<\/p>\n

Third, construct a screening hut at the main entrance, where staff can direct potential Ebola cases to the ID clinic rather than the hospital campus.<\/p>\n

Finally, decontaminate the old isolation unit and replace with a new accidents and emergencies (A&E) unit.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew TB clinic waiting area under construction.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"NewNew TB clinic waiting area after construction (with Leprosy holding area). <\/em><\/p>\n

Our team included some of the country\u2019s premier infectious disease specialists and dedicated staff from King\u2019s College in London. I took their knowledge of disease transmission, incorporated it with patient and staff safety protocols and translated it all into construction drawings for the new clinics.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew infectious disease clinic layout with color coded hazard zones. <\/em><\/p>\n

Doctors sketched the clinic\u2019s footprint, which I converted to a visual model. Working interactively, we developed the clinic\u2019s layout and I compiled final construction documents.<\/p>\n

During construction, I provided management and daily inspections. With the screening hut and ID clinic complete, we could enter the red zone to assess its structural condition.<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a>New screening hut with patients waiting for an evaluation.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Gerard<\/em>Decontamination hadn\u2019t begun, so Gerard is shown here\u00a0donning appropriate personnel protective equipment.<\/em><\/p>\n

Back home, I continue to support Connaught with CAD design and construction documents. The team is currently pursuing government approval and we anticipate construction to begin in 2016. I am confident that our work will enable these communities to better fight back against Ebola, ensuring a safe and healthy future in Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n

\"GD_headshot_89x100\"Gerard Dalziel is a project manager in AECOM\u2019s Transportation Business Line based in San Diego, California, United States. For the last 10 years, he has traveled all over the world to work on aid-related civil infrastructure projects.<\/em>
\n<\/em>LinkedIn: <\/em>Gerard Dalziel<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine you, your family and your community are facing a rare and deadly viral infection that causes severe bleeding and organ failure. That is reality for communities in Africa affected by the scourge of Ebola virus disease, which is fatal if left untreated. In impoverished countries with weak governments, a highly contagious virus like Ebola […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":1108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[1927],"yst_prominent_words":[2541,2530,2543,2538,2545,2544,2539,2534,2533,2540,2536,2528,2526,2532,2535,2537,2531,2529,2527,2542],"class_list":["post-1100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate-social-responsibility","tag-corporate-responsibility"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1100"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aecom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}