British nurse back to help after Ebola recovery

British nurse Will Pooley says it is good to be back in Sierra Leone

 

The British nurse who has returned to Sierra Leone after recovering from Ebola has told the BBC he is "frustrated" by the "woefully slow" international response to the outbreak. William Pooley is back at the heart of the crisis, treating patients in the capital Freetown.

It's 8am and a queue of desperate-looking people are standing outside the gates of Connaught Hospital in Freetown.
The 18-bed Ebola isolation ward, run by the British-based King's Sierra Leone Partnership, has been at capacity for three months.
But a bed has become free overnight after another patient, a man in his 30s, passed away. It's one in, one out, and the medic deciding who will get a bed first today is British nurse Will Pooley.
There are four people lying in the recently erected white screening tent. Patients are assessed and then put inside the tent if they are suspected of having Ebola.
Bed wait All four patients look gaunt and terrified. One woman lies on the floor retching. She can barely keep her eyes open. This morning, however, she is the "lucky" one who will be given a bed. Many like her have died on the floor of this tent before a space has become free.
The others will have to wait. No one knows how long for, and whether they'll still be alive when the next bed becomes free.
This is the crisis Will has chosen to return to.
"It's really good to be back. I never meant to leave Sierra Leone. I didn't want to go, so being back feels like I'm back where I should be. I feel like I'm doing a worthwhile job… I'm a nurse and this is where they need nurses."
Infected It was almost three months ago to the day that Will found out he'd been infected with Ebola while he was working at a government treatment centre in Kenema, 300km (186 miles) from the capital.
He had come to Sierra Leone to work at a hospice in Freetown, but when Ebola started devastating the east of the country, he went straight to the epicentre to try to help.

Will, rear centre, in the isolation unit at Connaught Hospital

His team was overstretched, and he fell sick within weeks of arriving. He says he still doesn't know how he became infected.
"It's really hard to say. A lot of healthcare workers I've spoken to that have got sick say you don't know when you've made a mistake or if something has happened, or if there's been some exposure from some other route like outside the hospital.
"I would imagine it would have been on the hospital grounds.
"I expect it didn't happen while I was wearing personal protective equipment. It seems like a lot of healthcare workers get infected outside the isolation areas, in the surrounding areas. But for me I can't pin it down."
Immunity Will was flown back to the UK on an RAF plane on 24 August and taken to the Royal Free Hospital, where doctors treated him with the experimental drug ZMapp.
"I was scared, especially on the plane I was scared when I started feeling unwell. I had no experience of Ebola patients in a decent care setting.
"The patients I had been looking after in Kenema would die, really unpleasantly, and there wouldn't be a great deal you could do to stop their suffering. So they would suffer horribly before dying.
"I was facing a less grisly situation, because I knew that if it went the worst way I still wouldn't suffer in the way patients do here."
But after receiving treatment in the UK, Will says he feels much safer returning to continue the fight against Ebola because he believes he has built some immunity to the virus after successfully fighting it off once.
"I haven't been told I have guaranteed immunity, because no-one knows that for sure. But the scientific consensus suggests that I'm pretty much covered, probably."
Social outcast Will is not the only one making the most of his potential immunity. Trainee nurse Bilkisu Alfleda, 23, has also started working at the Connaught Hospital after being treated and discharged from the Ebola isolation ward there in August.
She lost 17 members of her family to Ebola, including her father and brothers. She was then thrown out of her family home because the community were scared of her.

Bilkisu Alfleda has been inspired by the Briton's willingness to return

"When I go to my house I don't have anyone to talk to, even my friends ignore me. But when I come to the hospital I feel loved. I feel like I belong," she says.
She says working alongside another survivor helps give her the courage to carry on despite being a social outcast.
"The coming of Will just inspired me because if Will is willing to come and work for my fellow Sierra Leoneans, why should I not come? We work as a team, we feel we are all brothers and sisters."
'Going to die' The death rate in Sierra Leone has rocketed since Will left in August, particularly in and around the capital.
A total of 5,586 people have been infected in the country, 1,187 have died and cases continue to rise sharply in some areas.
"Seeing what the situation is in the country is difficult. The isolation unit here we are seeing lots of people dying, the beds are never empty for a moment," says Will.

Will is critical of the slowness of the response to the outbreak

"So coming back it's hard to see all the same stuff I was seeing a few months ago [in Kenema] is happening now in the capital.
"This all could have been prevented. We're many months down the line now. A lot of the response has just been woefully slow.
"It never had to be as bad as it is and it's still going to continue and many people are still going to die when - if the response had been better - or if now the response was sped up, deaths could be prevented."

Tonight!! @Industry_Nite Presents @Olamide_YBNL Album release party with your hosts @iamjimmie & @DjSpinall

 

Tonight!! @Industry_Nite Presents @Olamide_YBNL Album release party with your hosts @iamjimmie & @DjSpinall

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OMG! You Wont Believe The Body On This 44-year-old Womann With 8 kids

This lady pictured above, who goes by the twitter handle T. Schneill turned 44 yesterday and claims she's birthed 8 children. Some of them in their 20s. And she has a body like that, can you believe it? See more photos of her below.....

Israeli troops destroy home of Palestinian

Confrontations between protesters and Israeli police rocked Jerusalem throughout Tuesday [Getty Images]

Israeli security forces have destroyed the East Jerusalem home of a Palestinian who carried out a suicide car attack in October that left two people dead, the military said, as pitched street battles raged in the aftermath of an attack on a synagogue in West Jerusalem that killed five Israelis. "The home of the terrorist, who killed an Israeli baby and a young woman on October 22 in a tram station in Jerusalem was destroyed in Silwan," the military said in a statement on Wednesday. Four families who lived in the building - including that of the attacker AbdelRahman al-Shaludi, who was shot and killed shortly after the October assault - had to evacuate, said Al Jazeera's Dalia Haquta, reporting from East Jerusalem. The whole neighbourhood was closed off by the Israeli police, she said. In the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal al-Mukaber - the hometown of the two Palestinians who carried out the attack on the Har Nof Synagogue on Tuesday morning killing five Israelis - Israeli troops were confronted by angry Palestinians. The Israeli troops were headed to the area to demolish the homes of the Abu Jamal cousins who carried out the synagogue attack. Four rabbis - three with Israeli-US citizenship and a fourth who was Israeli-British - were killed by Palestinians armed with a gun and knives. A police officer died of his wounds hours after the attack. Synagogue attackers targeted The victims were identified as 59-year-old Moshe Twersky,  Kalman Levine, 55; Aryeh Kupinsky, 43, and Avram Shmuel Goldberg, 68. Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from West Jerusalem, said the confrontation had so far prevented the Israelis from demolishing the homes of Ghassan Abu Jamal and Oday Abu Jamal. "But it is pretty safe to say that it will eventually [be carried out]. All these lends to general unease in the East of Jerusalem which has really been brewing for sometime now," he added. At least 10 Palestinians were wounded in violence near al-Ram, a Jerusalem neighbourhood that has been cut off from the rest of the city by the Israeli separation wall. Timeline: A review of the critical events that have marked the history of al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Approximately 25 others were wounded in Sur Baher, south of Jerusalem, Palestinian medical sources told Al Jazeera. Violence also flared in the occupied West Bank with Israeli settlers attacking a school in the village of Urif, south of Nablus. Clashes ensued and at least five Palestinians were wounded by rubber-coated steel bullets while others were taken to hospital with tear-gas-related injuries. Israeli settlers also attacked Palestinian cars at bypass roads in the Hebron area, south of the West Bank. Ramallah-based rights group Addameer said 10 members of the Abu Jamal family were arrested on Tuesday morning. They included the parents and wife of Ghassan Muhammad Abu Jamal, and the mother, uncle and brother of Odai Abed Abu Jamal. Stabbed in the leg In the evening, a Palestinian man was stabbed in the leg in northern Jerusalem, according to Israeli police and Palestinian media reports. Fadi Radwan was attacked near al-Musrara and taken to Hadassah Hospital, medics said. Earlier, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, promised a harsh response to the synagogue attack and ordered the demolition of the homes of the the Abu Jamal cousins. Israeli authorities had halted this practice in 2005, after a review committee determined it did not deter future attacks. However, the tactic was renewed following the killing of three Israeli teens near a West Bank settlement this summer. In an attempt to defuse tensions, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement condemning the killing of civilians on all sides. He also demanded a halt to "raids into Al-Aqsa [mosque]" and "settler provocation". Palestinians are angry at what they say are repeated attempts by right-wing Jews to extend their influence at the Muslim-run compound housing the mosque.

FC Barcelona

 

Our players were part of a photo shoot and we have the making off! Watch this video and check how much fun they had. Only at Barça Fans http://bit.ly/TNWwRK

NYSC: How automated registration makes orientation stress-free

Nigeria definitely is moving, even if it seems that there is no movement. It is believed it seems there is no movement simply because substantial and critical operators and institutions in the country are yet to properly key-in to the use of ICT as an enabler in whatever their business is.


*NYSC members

Several institutions of higher learning in the country have already used and are using ICT to manage things; one very good example is the Rivers State University of Science & Technology under the leadership of Professor Barineme Fakae as vice-chancellor (see his story in Vanguard Learning tomorrow).

Another institution that has digitalized operations is the National Youth Service Corps; which leaves one wondering whether these institutions are succeeding with ICT because their core population are youths.

The digitalization of registration process in NYSC orientation camps nationwide has brought relief to many corps members who can now register within minutes of entering the camps.

Abiodun Lawal, son of a retired policeman was initially apprehensive that he would “suffer”on a long queue after a fairly long journey from Lagos to the camp in Benin City, Edo State. With a scowl on his face, he trudged with his luggage to the registration centre at the camp, where what turned out to be a pleasant surprise, to his eternal gratitude awaited him.

“I thought I would I would spend hours on the queue,”Abiodun narrated, “but I was surprised because registration and allocation of bed space lasted less than thirty minutes. It was so easy!”

Abiodun’s experience, including that of his peers in orientation camps nationwide indicate how far the use of ICT has helped the NYSC to achieve this time around. Gone are the days of corps members struggling in camps to register and then get their kits before settling to life inside the camp.

An NYSC official of the NYSC at the Kubwa Orientation Camp in Abuja disclosed that many corps members usually fall sick immediately they finish their registration because of the stress they go through.

“Don’t forget that most of them are coming into the camp as freshers and they are exposed to what they were not really used to before.

Therefore, the stress of analog registration usually takes its toll on some of them and the next place they visit after registration is the camp clinic because they usually fall sick immediately after. We have seen many cases like that.”

If the NYSC has successfully used ICT to eliminate the stress and difficulties corps members go through while registering at the camps, it is clear that more could be achieved if institutions embrace ICT in managing their operations.

Few institutions, relative to the population in Nigeria have so far successfully keyed into this trend, while confirming the appropriateness of such technological advancement in aiding their organizational activities.

The new process allows corps members to be swiftly processed, confirmed and certified in seconds as opposed to the tedious processes of filling multiple registration forms and standing on queues for hours. In many instances in the past, not all corps members are able to complete registration the day they arrive camp.

NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Johnson Olawumi, during a visit to the camp in Kubwa, Abuja expressed satisfaction at the clockwork easy with which registration was proceeding, while commending the registration team at the camp.

General Olawumi, started a nationwide tour of NYSC camps with the Kubwa camp to ensure effectiveness of the automated registration process was impressed that it was going very well, fast and convenient for corps members and staff of the scheme as well.

“This digital registration is going very well. It is fast and convenient for staff and corps members. This is the first time the hall will be empty by the second day. But we will continue to modernize and improve our processes. Registration used to take two days with a lot of stress. Now it is a matter of seconds. My dream is to improve further so that when corps members arrive camps, their rooms and kits are already assigned based on prior information.”

He also added that this is the first time the registration hall will be empty by the second day of camp resumption, while also assuring Nigerians that the NYSC would continue to modernize and improve the processes.

As at the time of his visit to the Kubwa camp on Monday, more than 2,500 of the expected 2.700 corps members for the November batch had already completed their registration process and settled into their accommodation.

FCT coordinator of the NYSC, Alao Olanipekun, also attested to the goal of the NYSC towards ensuring convenience for the corps members and allowing for efficiency in such activities.

He added that even pregnant corps members are also benefiting from the new system as it allows them a shorter period to go through the registration process while they can now wait to receive a short message prompt confirming the status of their registration.

“When I served in the 83/84 service year, it used to be excruciating and stressful. But now registration is seamless, fast and enjoyable. Let me also inform you that there is adequate security at the camp with fully-armed soldiers and checkpoints.”

The digitalization of the registration process at NYSC camps across the country was one move that was long overdue. A couple of months back, the scheme announced that it would be charging a sum of N4,000 for prospective corps members that would like to download their call-up letters online.

Before, prospective corps awaiting mobilization always had to go to schools where they finished to pick up their call-up letters there. However, the NYSC devised a means whereby the call-up letters could be downloaded online where the prospective corps member could register, complete with biometrics.

However, this idea met with considerable criticism as many Nigerians felt the N4,000 fee being charged for the service was on the high side even if majority of them agreed that it was a brilliant idea on its own. The speed with which registration is being done at various camps across the country has vindicated the NYSC concerning its decision to digitise its operations.

While those who did not take the option of downloading their call-up letters online still registered online, the digitilisation idea has benefitted every corps member that reported for camping. And that is why the fears of the likes of Kehinde Oladele turned out to be unfounded

Download Music: HarrySong – Beta Pikin (Remix) ft. Toofan || @IamMrSongz

- @IamMrSongz

 

Award winning singer, songwriter and producer Harrysong teams up with Best Francophone MTV Africa Music Awards 2014 and Togolese duo, Toofan for the remix to his monstrous hit single ‘Beta Pikin.

The Five Star Music recording artiste and performer delivers a stellar cross border twist on his biggest dance record. Listen and see Harrysong get himself some core French fans, This remix is a smash hit-bound colaboration in Francophone countries in coming days/weeks.

 

This is a prelude to his upcoming new single and Kolombo remix to featured a renowned South African producer and act scheduled for release before the year 2014 ends.

DOWNLOAD HERE