Wichita group raising money to ship Clinic in a Can to battle Ebola in Liberia

Clinic in a Can, a Wichita-based group, is raising funds to provide one of its clinics to Liberia to help combat the outbreak of Ebola.

The group converts used shipping containers into medical clinics, which can be run using an existing grid (for water, electricity and such) or be powered fully by solar energy.

The group is running a crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo to raise $30,000 to convert and outfit a 20-foot shipping container into a medical clinic to be shipped Monrovia, Liberia, to help with the Ebola crisis.

Additional funds raised will go toward outfitting the container to run using solar power, and start toward the construction of additional clinics for Liberia, according to a news release from the group.

“Our clinics are a great solution to a lot of the problems facing aid workers dealing with the Ebola epidemic” Matt Hamer, missions and communications coordinator with the group, said in the release. “Because they are self-contained units, they can limit the amount of potential exposures to the virus during exams and treatment. By raising the money before sending the clinics, we can make sure that clinics get to areas that are the hardest hit and might not be able to afford buying them outright.”

Tuesday, U.S. health officials said that Liberia and Sierra Leone could see 21,000 total cases of Ebola by the end of the month and 1.4 million by late January if the disease keeps spreading as it has been.

In what was described as a “best case” scenario, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the outbreak could be “almost ended” by Jan. 20, if effective measures are put in place and other circumstances work in their favor.

Clinic in a Can began in 2002 as a project focusing on areas that have limited access to medical care, and has already sent clinics to Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Haiti, the Philippines and South Sudan.

Donations for the clinic can be made at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/clinic-in-a-can/x/8688468 through Oct. 19.

All donations are tax deductible.

For more information, visit www.clinicinacan.org.

This story was originally published September 23, 2014 at 8:32 AM with the headline "Wichita group raising money to ship Clinic in a Can to battle Ebola in Liberia."