Cath joins the Ebola front-line

Cath Nixon

A BRAVE Oldham-based nurse has swapped her Christmas jumper for a protective suit and mask to join the front-line fighting Ebola in West Africa.

Cath Nixon, a health visitor for Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, is one of 30 NHS volunteers who have flown out to Sierra Leone to work in British-built treatment centres with those who have contracted the deadly virus.

The volunteers are the first NHS health professionals to be deployed by the UK Government and the Department for International Development.

For five weeks, the medics, who include GPs, nurses, clinicians, psychiatrists and consultants, will work on testing, diagnosing and treating people with the virus before returning home three days after Christmas.

Cath (30), who is based at Werneth Primary Care Centre, said: “My family expected me to do it.

“They heard it on the news and knew it was the type of thing I would want to do.

“It’s part of me, I believe in equality and healthcare for all.”

Cath is no stranger to travelling for her work after spending two years in rural Nepal on women’s reproductive health in the area.

The current outbreak of the Ebola virus has killed more than 5,000 people, including more than 1,200 in Sierra Leone.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said: “Our fight against Ebola in West Africa is one of Britain’s biggest responses to a disease outbreak.

“Almost 1,000 military personnel, scientists, healthcare and aid workers are already on the ground in Sierra Leone working to contain, control and defeat this terrible disease.

“But to beat Ebola we desperately need the experience and dedication of skilled doctors and nurses to care for the thousands of sick and dying patients who are not receiving the treatment they need.

“Every one of these NHS heroes will play a vital role in the fight against Ebola.

“It is only because of their combined efforts that we stand a chance of defeating this disease.”
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