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Kelowna  

Her brush with Ebola

A Kelowna nurse recounted her brush with Ebola for Interior Health's board of directors on Tuesday.

Patrice Gordon experienced both sides of the outbreak.

After volunteering at the Kenema Treatment Centre in Sierra Leone late last year, Gordon returned to Kelowna, where she began to experience Ebola-like symptoms. She was admitted to Kelowna General Hospital, where she eventually tested negative for the highly contagious disease.

The Ebola outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013 and quickly spread across much of West Africa. There have been about 26,000 cases and 11,000 deaths associated with it.

During her presentation, Gordon emphasized the preparedness that KGH staff showed during her ordeal.

“I didn't know if I had Ebola or not, and if I did, I sure as heck did not want to be the index case that started the Ebola epidemic in Canada,” Gordon said. “I didn't have to say anything – everybody was doing the right thing. I have just boundless thanks and appreciation for all the staff at KGH.”

Health services administrator Sharon Cook said Ebola preparedness began at KGH in October 2014, and 1,000 hours of planning and training was put in before Gordon put it to the test.

“The first few weeks we were meeting three times a week,” Cook said.“It was a struggle, but we trained staff with what we had.”

Gordon said the training was evident.

“I do know Ebola, and I recognize it – and I know how to keep myself and others safe from it,” Gordon said. “One thing I can say with absolute confidence is that if I had had Ebola, it would have ended with me.”

Gordon is no stranger to applying her nursing skills in potentially dangerous situations. In 2008, she spent six weeks working for the Red Cross in Kandahar, Afghanistan. She had planned to be in Nepal today, helping earthquake victims, but the Red Cross wanted her to stay to present her experience with Ebola.

After all of her testing at KGH, it turned out Gordon simply had a “bugger of a cold."

She said her time volunteering in Sierra Leone was full of highs and lows.

“There were shattering times, but happy times, too,” she said. “The beauty of the humanity of the people who were so compassionate to each other when they were suffering themselves. It was a true privilege to see all that I saw.”



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