Here's the story of Firestone as told in the NewAmerican. [Common sense in action]
Firestone Did What Governments Have Not: Stopped Ebola In Its Tracks

Friday, 10 October 2014 00:00
Company Stops Ebola, While Obama and the UN Fail
Written by Alex Newman

As the Obama administration and the United Nations send military troops and massive amounts of resources in a thus far totally ineffective bid to supposedly combat the deadly Ebola virus, one private company has already “stopped Ebola in its tracks” with exactly zero soldiers, according to National Public Radio. Indeed, using standard medical techniques to control the disease that it found through Google searches, Firestone Natural Rubber Company, which operates a giant rubber-tree farm in Ebola-stricken Liberia, has become what the Wall Street Journal described as a “sanctuary of health in a country where cases are doubling every three weeks.”

As of last week, there were no more known Ebola infections on the 185-square-mile farm among the company’s 8,500 employees and their 71,500 dependents, according to news reports. Meanwhile, all around Firestone’s rubber plantation, despite a massive government effort that has included the use of troops to quarantine whole towns at gunpoint, the deadly disease continues to wreak havoc. “There are villages here that are getting wiped out,” explained Ed Garcia, the Philippines-born director of Firestone’s Ebola-free tree farm. Nearby Liberians quoted in news reports complained that they were not allowed into the farm.

Speaking to the Journal, Garcia explained how Firestone succeeded where governments and the UN continue to fail. When the first Ebola patient arrived at the rubber plantation, farm managers searched for “Ebola” online. Armed with information, they set up an “Ebola War Room” to strategize. “It was like flying an airplane and reading the manual at the same time,” Garcia told the Journal’s reporter in Liberia. Speaking to NPR, he added: “None of us had any Ebola experience.” Soon, though, they were ready to combat the virus.

First they built isolation clinics using shipping containers and plastic wrap. Company trucks were turned into makeshift ambulances. Protective suits used to clean up chemical spills became medical gear to protect those who may be exposed to an infected patient. Meanwhile, company janitors were trained in how to properly bury the bodies of Ebola victims, company police were deployed to enforce a “no visitors” rule, and teachers at the company’s schools visited each home to teach farm workers and their families about the disease — something especially crucial as rumors about Ebola continue to spread like wildfire among the population.

Unlike the Liberian government’s measures — coordinated with the controversial World Health Organization — Firestone’s plan worked. The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team in Liberia, Dr. Brendan Flannery, praised Firestone’s efforts to combat Ebola as “resourceful, innovative and effective,”

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While managers want to help, they are struggling with tough decisions about whether to take in outsiders, and how many to admit — especially to avoid overwhelming their own preparations and resources. The schools, closed by government order, have been transformed into quarantine centers. The only new reported cases on the farm since March were people who came in from the outside, according to NPR.

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More:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news...and-the-un-fail