Science & Health
U NIVERSIT Y OF WIS CONS IN-L A C RO S S E CO LLE G E O F S C I E NC E A N D H EALT H N EW SL ET T ER
V OL U ME 10, N U MBER 1
WINTER 2014-15
Worldwide health close to home
UW-L Student Evacuated From Sierra Leone in the Wake of Ebola UW-L Master of Public Health student Alexandria Berg was in West Africa teaching youth about public health when a public health emergency began to unfold around her. Berg was completing her Graduate Community Health Preceptorship
experience in Freetown, Sierra Leone, when the deadliest outbreak of Ebola in history took hold in West Africa. With help from UW-L, Berg secured the last seat on a plane out of the country. Berg’s UW-L Adviser Gary Gilmore, director of Graduate Community Health and Public Health Programs, in collaboration with the Office of International Education and senior
university leadership were monitoring the situation. When the Department of State issued a travel warning and the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clearly declared an epidemic of unusual proportions, it was determined that for Berg’s continued safety and well-being, she needed to depart the country, says Gilmore.
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