In Ebola Fight, Jewish Groups Help Caregivers Cope With Psychosocial Trauma

Additional Assistance: Israeli group provides psychological counseling, German Air Force flies in relief supplies (Two stories, scroll down.)

JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY                    Nov. 10, 2014
By Uri Heilman
IsraAid is providing psychosocial counseling and training to service providers – health workers, social workers, teachers, police — dealing with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. The locals staffing Freetown’s Ebola hotline are among those receiving counseling.

IsraAid psychosocial trauma specialists Hela Yaniv, left, and Sheri Oz lead a counseling and training session for service providers in Sierra Leone.

“Dealing with the psychosocial trauma is critical to addressing the Ebola outbreak,” Shachar Zahavi, IsraAid’s founding director, told JTA in an interview. “A major deterrent to treatment is that people don’t trust one another. If you don’t feel well, your family immediately hides you and you then infect your entire family. We’re trying to teach police, social workers, health workers and teachers how to deal with people who are afraid of them – and how to manage their own stress and anxiety.”

...the New York-based American Jewish World Service has been  funding 10 groups in Liberia and one in Senegal that are working to contain the Ebola outbreak.

These groups’ efforts include using radio stations and rural media organizations to carry out public education campaigns combating Ebola’s spread; training and equipping volunteers to deliver hygiene materials and information pamphlets to local households; providing psychosocial support and counseling to Ebola survivors and their families; renovating a clinic to act as an Ebola quarantine and triage center; and in one case, providing primary medical care services to locals in light of the collapse of local health care systems.

Read complete story 

http://forward.com/articles/208945/in-ebola-fight-jewish-groups-help-caregivers-cope/#ixzz3IiTPf7Zj

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