Clinic in a Can leads Ebola crisis response in Wichita

Clinic in a Can – a Wichita-based nonprofit that converts shipping containers into medical clinics – is trying to raise $300,000 for Ebola crisis response in Africa.

The effort includes sending eight of its solar-powered clinics, collecting food locally and collecting money for food to be purchased by aid organizations in Africa, said Mike Wawrzewski, a physician assistant and founder of Clinic in a Can.

“We’re trying to create a Wichita response, and we hope as many people become involved as possible and that it becomes a focus instead of people on the sidelines wondering what can they do,” Wawrzewski said.

“Now they have something they can do, because it’s better to fight it and treat it over there. The longer it goes on, the potential of us having to treat it at our back door goes up.”

The disaster response plan has three components:

▪ 20 percent of the money will be sent to Graber Ministries in El Dorado to buy rice and beans in Africa to feed Liberians.

▪ 70 percent will be used to offset the cost to build and ship eight solar-powered clinics to Liberia.

▪ 10 percent will go to Heaven Sent Ministries for a community food-packing event that will fill a 20-foot container to be sent to Liberia.

The Ebola outbreak is different from anything Clinic in a Can has responded to before.

The organization, which built its first clinic in 2005, has sent clinics to South Sudan, to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan last year and to tornado-ravaged Moore, Okla., in 2013.

All surfaces in the clinics can be decontaminated, Wawrzewski said. It’s a step up from many of the Ebola treatment centers in Liberia, some of which are made of 6-foot posts wrapped with plastic.

“Their medical system is overwhelmed, and it’s the consequences of poor infrastructure and poor sanitation,” Wawrzewski said.

The clinics are operational for up to 20 years, and this is the first time the organization has made them completely solar-powered.

“That’s very important in Liberia, because their power system is horrible,” he said.

The eight clinics being constructed now will be ready to ship in about three weeks if funding is in place. Wawrzewski said he hopes to partner with the U.S. Agency for International Development to fly the containers overseas and for U.S. military personnel to put them in place. If they cannot be flown, they will go by ship, which can take up to 30 days.

The containers will also be packed with equipment, including personal protective equipment for medical personnel who are treating Ebola patients.

Clinic in a Can recently sent one of its containers to the international airport in Lagos, Nigeria. There it will be used to screen Ebola patients.

The World Health Organization declared Nigeria Ebola-free on Monday. The country has not had a new case of the virus for 42 days.

So far, more than 9,190 people have been reported as infected in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, leading to more than 4,545 deaths, according to WHO.

Clinic in a Can is also partnering with Carespan for telemedicine services from the U.S. to medical staff members in Liberia, Wawrzewski said.

This story was originally published October 21, 2014 at 6:50 AM with the headline "Clinic in a Can leads Ebola crisis response in Wichita."