“Ebola was the big news story in health this year and dominated our coverage for several months. As a small news staff, our goal was to cover the story in a way that mattered most to our readers, and to bring to light stories that weren’t covered by everyone else. Lacking the staff or resources of a big news organization, we wanted to find a creative way to bring coverage to our readers. Jeri Sumitani is a U.S.-trained physician’s assistant who volunteered to help treat Ebola patients at Connaught Hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She provides a first-hand account of some of the faces she encountered behind the numbers of Ebola victims — a moving look at those who died, those who lived and those doing their best to carry on in the face of an enormous and frightening epidemic that has affected many aspects of their daily lives. In addition, Jeri was able to relate the profound effects of volunteering in such an environment. “It was so easy to feel like we were fighting an isolated battle while the rest of the world celebrated the holidays,” she said. She also wanted to portray the outbreak in the larger context of a failing health care system in one of the world’s poorest countries. The problems in Sierra Leone, she says, extend far beyond Ebola. The series gave us a unique way to call attention to the plight of those affected by the Ebola outbreak and provide insight to the human suffering taking place. Readers could visualize the “Ebola stare” that Jeri saw in her patients, hear the mournful singing of a child who saw her dying mother, and feel her pain as she tried to decide who among the sick and dying deserved care that day in the limited unit. She also shared her emotional ups and downs — the fear she might have Ebola, her anger at the lack of resources, and her anguish at having to tell loved ones their family members had died and been buried in an unknown location.”
