Real Heroes
 

:angel: http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com...ess_rom810.jpgWe live in a messed up world, where there are too many people who wave flags, shoot guns, and blow themselves up with bombs to be 'heroes'. Here is a doctor for the WHO who sounded the alarm and treated the first known patient, and who knowingly exposed himself to the risk and gave his life.

The former category are a dime a dozen, but it always makes me a little sad when guys like this fall. I know that his particular contribution was a little too small for a Nobel Prize, but it would be a classy thing to do for them to acknowledge his sacrifice and that of others like him at this years ceremony.

BTW, he does look like a younger John Rhys-Davies.

At the time I'm posting this, the link to the pic is broken ...

I have a lot of respect for docs who choose to work in infectious diseases because of the possibility, even with good, rigidly followed precautions, you still have a chance of getting what you're studying.

Often the earliest victims of the disease are the caregivers. If not the docs, the nurses, the orderlies, or (and I'll bet a lot of people didn't even consider this one) the janitors.

The janitors get a double whammy. The normal problem of dealing with excrement and the chemical for cleaning is bad enough. Adding a hospital/clinic concentration of bad bugs is
double jeopardy.

Yah, those guys don't usually get paid enough to accept that risk. Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton just raised their pay scale so the lowest paid folks there get 8 bucks an hour. Thats actually not too bad considering how low the cost of living is hereabouts.