抗擊埃博拉：請看這家公司如何在利比里亞保護自己的員工

????但是在園區周圍，疫情卻愈發肆虐。

????今年7月，在園區以西僅35英里的利比里亞首都蒙羅維亞，出現了更多的埃博拉病例。在園區以北不到5英里的小鎮卡卡塔，疫情也十分嚴重。在卡卡塔鎮的C.H. Rennie醫院，醫護人員們因為害怕自己也染上這種瘟疫，而紛紛拋棄工作當了逃兵，導致醫院最終只能關門。由于病人無處求醫，C.H. Rennie醫院不得不將它認為的非埃博拉病例轉移到凡士通利比里亞公司醫院治療。

????其中兩名病人最后證實患有埃博拉病毒，其中一人最初是因為懷孕而轉來這家醫院的，另一名患者原本懷疑是藥物使用過量致病，二人最后都在凡士通醫院去世。該懷孕婦女的嬰兒最終也胎死腹中。

????但到了８月初，園區的埃博拉病例開始激增，加亞西表示，這與埃博拉在附近村鎮的肆虐有關。他說：“情況很快就失控了。”

????截至上周，凡士通利比里亞公司已經出現74起埃博拉病例，其中60%的患者都是與該公司直接有關的人，其中54名患者不治去世，32名患者是凡士通的員工或家屬。在過去兩個月，有好幾次，擁有23張床位的埃博拉治療基地幾乎都在滿負荷運轉。

????為了扼制新病例激增的勢頭，園區管理層采取了被加西亞稱為“極為艱巨”的努力。該公司的埃博拉治療團隊從6人增加到了大約50人。加西亞隔壁的一間會議室也變成了抗擊埃博拉的“作戰室”，用來收集潛在感染者和密切接觸者的信息。（公司還要求園區所有人仔細觀察各種異常行為，以及鄰居是否有隱藏患病親屬的情況。）任何進入生產區的員工必須先洗手并測量體溫。園區的27所學校也因疫情而關閉了，其中三座學校被改作隔離區。該公司的“抗埃”教育也在繼續。

????與此同時，該公司的橡膠業務也遭到了一定打擊。以往，該公司平均年產3000萬磅橡膠。現在它的農業業務（主要是橡膠樹）正在以接近100%的產能生產，但其橡膠原木產量下跌了50%。對生產打擊最大的，是當地政府頒布的宵禁令，導致生產時間有所減短。另外疫情對當地私人膠農的影響也很大，使該公司難以像以往一樣從私人膠農手中購買橡膠作為補充。加西亞稱，這一部分的下跌幅度已經達到了25%。

????大約十多年前，凡士通利比里亞公司還曾遭受長達14年的利比里亞內戰的摧殘，導致橡膠園關閉數年，戰火對該公司的工廠、工人住宅、學校、發電站和醫療設施都造成了嚴重損壞。加西亞幫助當時的領導團隊重新修復了廠區，然后帶領它繼續生產。不過加西亞認為，相比之下，這次的埃博拉疫情是個更大的挑戰。

????加西亞透露說，通過跟蹤監控潛在接觸者，公司的“抗埃”戰斗已經取得了一定成果。目前有212人正在自愿接受隔離。在9月份的一次新聞發布會上，美國疾病控制中心（Centers for Disease Control and Prevention）的湯姆?弗里登對凡士通利比里亞公司提出了表揚，特別是贊揚了該公司在沒有政府支持的情況下，迅速控制住了埃博拉危機。該公司發言人丹?達頓表示，公司的埃博拉患者一度降至0人，但是在10月4日到5日，疫情又有所反復。到本周二，該公司的埃博拉治療中心又收治了4名病人。

????自從該公司的第一例埃博拉病毒爆發以來，凡士通利比里亞公司就一直與美國疾病控制中心保持合作。上周，該公司又開始與一家叫做撒瑪利亞救援會（Samaritan’s Purse）的國際援助組織進行合作，后者最近剛剛向利比里亞援助了100噸物資。本月初，隨著美國總統奧巴馬下令在該地區部署美軍以協助抗擊埃博拉疫情后，又有更多的援助抵達。

????當被問到自己如何評價公司在疫情中的表現時，加西亞表示，他最遺憾的一件事就是：“如果更多援助早一點到達利比里亞就好了。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：樸成奎

????In the regions around the concession, however, the epidemic raged.

????In July, more cases popped up in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, 35 miles west of the Firestone concession. The situation in Kakata, a town less than five miles north of the plantation’s northern border, was just as dire. The C.H. Rennie Hospital in Kakata eventually shut down. Its staff dwindled as health workers deserted their jobs due to fear of the disease or died from it. With no place to turn, C.H. Rennie began to send what it thought were non-Ebola cases to Firestone Liberia’s hospital.

????Two of those patients—one of whom was referred to Firestone for pregnancy-related needs and another who was suspected of suffering from a drug overdose—ended up having Ebola and died at the Firestone facility. The pregnant patient’s baby was stillborn.

????In early August, the concession saw a surge in cases that Garcia says is attributable to the disease’s infiltration of nearby towns. “Things just went out of control very fast,” Garcia says.

????The Ebola care team at Firestone LiberiaCourtesy: Firestone Liberia

????As of late last week, there had been 74 cases of Ebola at Firestone Liberia—about 60% of which involved individuals directly associated with company. Of those who contracted the disease, 54 are dead. Thirty-two of the deceased are Firestone employees or their dependents. On several occasions over the last two months, the company’s new, 23-bed Ebola facility has neared full capacity.

????In an effort to contain the surge of new cases, the concession’s management took on what Garcia calls “herculean” efforts. Its Ebola medical staff increased from six to about 50 people. A conference room next to Garcia’s office morphed into a war room to collect data on Ebola patients’ potential contacts and reports of potential new cases. (Firestone Liberia residents are supposed to be on the lookout for unusual activity or neighbors who may be hiding sick relatives or disappearing themselves.) Employees entering Firestone facilities must stop to wash their hands and receive a temperature check. The concession’s 27 schools closed have because of the epidemic and three of them now function as quarantine centers. And the company’s education efforts continue.

????The concession’s rubber business, meanwhile—which typically produces 30 million pounds per year—has taken a hit. Its agricultural operation—rubber trees, mainly—is running at close to 100%, but its rubber wood mill has seen a 50% drop-off in production. The biggest blow to production has been the government-instituted curfews that have cut operating hours and the epidemic’s effect on local, private rubber farmers in Liberia, from whom Firestone buys some of its supply. That volume has decreased by 25%, Garcia says.

????Just over ten years ago, Firestone Liberia was caught in the middle of the nation’s 14-year civil war, which caused the plantation to shut down for several years and inflicted severe damage to the company’s factory, worker housing, schools, power generation, and medical facilities. Garcia helped lead that team that rehabilitated the plantation and got it up and running afterwards. By comparison, the Ebola epidemic, he says, is a bigger challenge.

????According to Garcia, the Firestone Liberia team has made headway on that tough task by monitoring potential Ebola contacts—212 people are currently in voluntary quarantine. At a press conference in September, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tom Frieden credited Firestone Liberia for tackling the Ebola crisis promptly and without government support. Firestone Liberia had decreased its Ebola case count to zero, says company spokesman Don Darden, but on the weekend of October 4-5 that changed. By Tuesday, it had four patients in its Ebola treatment center.

????Firestone Liberia has been working alongside the CDC since its first Ebola case, and last week, it started working with an international aid group called Samaritan’s Purse, which recently donated 100 tons of supplies to Liberia. More help arrived in the region earlier this month after President Barack Obama ordered the deployment of U.S. military troops to assist in combating the Ebola crisis.

????When asked to assess his company’s response to the epidemic, that’s the one thing Garcia says he regrets —“I wish more help had come to Liberia sooner.”