Samaritan's Purse Shifts to Family Care in Ebola Crisis

The international relief organization Samaritan's Purse said it's shifting its focus in battling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Ken Isaacs, vice president of Programs and Government Relations for Samaritan's Purse, told CBN News that the organization plans to move from working directly with Ebola patients in isolation units to helping families caring for patients in their homes.

Isaacs said the Ebola transmission rate and the necessity of home health care prompted the decision.

Right now, he explained, for every person that catches the virus, they transmit it to anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 other people.

Health experts believe many people are getting sick after caring for family members in the home who already have the virus.

For many patients, hospitalization is not an option. Isaacs said current projections show that as many as 100,000 people may be infected by December and it's not possible to provide beds in isolation wards for even 50,000.

"People are catching Ebola and staying home and their family members are either taking care of them or abandoning them, and I believe that a significant if not majority portion of the people who are going to get sick are going to require home-based care," Isaacs told CBN News.

Samaritan's Purse employs 507 national staff in Liberia and will work with them and their networks to train family members who are caring for loved ones with Ebola.

Samaritan's Purse will distribute home health care kits and continue to offer public awareness classes.

Isaacs believes public health education is key to reversing the current epidemic. He notes that none of the national staff or their immediate family members have caught the virus.

"We feel like that is a result of their having access to knowledge and information and instruction about what Ebola is, how it is transmitted, and what to do to prevent yourself from getting the disease," he said.

Isaacs also said the presence of the U.S. military in West Africa will help to better coordinate the fight against Ebola.

"My hope is that the presence of the U.S. military will be perceived as an encouragement and a sign of hope that the world is helping people who are suffering from the fear and the infection of this disease," he said.