Former Ebola patient returns to Nebraska to mark 10th anniversary of his treatment
Dr. Richard Sacra spent nearly three weeks at the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - It’s been 10 years since medical missionary Dr. Richard Sacra was released from the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit after he spent nearly three weeks there undergoing treatment for Ebola.
The State Department sent him there, formally activating the NBU.
“Sacra was the first patient treated at the unit and the third American to be treated for Ebola on U.S. soil during an outbreak that took place in Western Africa in late 2014,” according to a news release this week from Nebraska Medicine.
Dr. Sacra, who is from Massachusetts, had been treating patients with Ebola on one of severeal a mission trips to Liberia when he came down with it himself.
He recalled the discomfort of the trip from Monrovia, where he was being treated, to Nebraska; and noted the fear as they made stops for fuel.
“Bangor was the only airport on the whole East Coast that would allow them to even land the plane just to fuel it because of the fear of Ebola,” he said.
Dr. Sacra returned to Omaha to mark the anniversary with the unit on Thursday afternoon.
“It was an amazing team,” he said. “The way they’ve dealt with Ebola, with COVID, with other things; they way they’ve shifted gears from being primarily a clinical center to being a training center and going all over the country; and doing training has been fantastic to watch.”
Ten years ago, Jay Jevne was attending nursing school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
His first degree was in microbiology. He was asked to join the biocontainment unit and became a part of the team as a student.
Jevne recently talked to 6 News about his experiences, and what it was like working there while Nebraska Medicine was treating an Ebola patient 10 years ago.
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