{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://cicilline.house.gov/press-release/cicilline-bass-introduce-congressional-resolution-honor-health-workers-responding", "Cicilline, Bass Introduce Congressional Resolution to Honor Health Workers Responding to Ebola", "2014-11-14", "2014", "2014-11", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "David Cicilline", "C001084", "cicilline.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 U.S. Representatives David N. Cicilline (D-RI) and Karen Bass (D-CA) today introduced a congressional resolution to acknowledge and thank medical professionals and volunteers for their extraordinary courage in responding to the Ebola outbreak. The new congressional resolution expresses \u201cthe sense of Congress that health workers deserve our profound gratitude and respect for their commitments and sacrifices in addressing the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.\u201d\nDespite Ebola outbreaks historically having a case fatality rate of up to 90 percent, as of November 10, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has received nearly 4,800 self-nominated, non-vetted requests through the usaid.gov online registration portal for healthcare volunteers and is passing these contacts to interested aid organizations working in the region for vetting, possible selection, and training. These volunteers face dangerous and life-threatening conditions and according to the World Health Organization, over 540 health workers in West Africa, including several Americans, have already been infected in the current outbreak.\n\u201cHealth workers and volunteers who are on the frontlines combatting the Ebola virus are risking their lives to treat patients and stop the spread of this terrible and deadly disease. We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude for their bravery,\u201d said Cicilline.\n\u201cCongress should properly commend the hundreds of healthcare workers in the United States and those working in West Africa whose bravery is not only saving lives, but they are keeping the Ebola virus from spreading further. It was embarrassing how leaders treated Maine nurse Kaci Hickox after she returned from treating Ebola victims in West Africa. These healthcare workers are heroes--putting their own lives in danger to care for and treat people who are most in need,\u201d said Bass.\nMany non-governmental organizations such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, American Jewish World Service, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, Partners in Health, Samaritan\u2019s Purse, Global Communities, and others are responding to the Ebola crisis. The United States is helping to train health workers from African Union member states to directly respond to medical needs in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, but more trained workers are still needed.\nAt the time the outbreak began, many health workers in West Africa did not have proper training or experience to recognize, diagnose, and care for Ebola patients and prevent contraction. For example, in 2003 after 14 years of civil war, Liberia had only 30 doctors serving a country of 3 million people. When the outbreak began, Liberia had only 50 doctors. Experts have stated that the greatest barrier to ending the outbreak in West Africa is an insufficient number of health workers.\nThe full text of the congressional resolution is below:\nExpressing the sense of Congress that health workers deserve our profound gratitude and respect for their commitments and sacrifices in addressing the Ebola epidemic in West Africa\nWhereas the current Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone is the first Ebola outbreak in West Africa and by far the largest Ebola outbreak ever;\nWhereas the Ebola Virus Disease is a severe acute viral illness that has symptoms that are also common to other viruses, such as fever, muscle pain, and intestinal problems, making it difficult to properly identify;\nWhereas Ebola outbreaks are characterized by human-to-human transmission of the virus through direct contact with blood, body fluids, and tissues of infected people such as through needle sticks, unprotected care of infected individuals, and unsafe funeral preparation or burial ceremonies;\nWhereas Ebola outbreaks historically have a case fatality rate of up to 90 percent;\nWhereas there is currently no licensed vaccine or treatment for Ebola other than supportive care;\nWhereas according to the World Health Organization, as of November 12, 2014, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have reported 14,098 suspected, probable, and confirmed cases since December 2013;\nWhereas the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that for every case reported, an additional 1.5 cases are not recorded;\nWhereas second order impacts of the Ebola outbreak are threatening local public health systems, economic and food security, and political stability;\nWhereas the Ebola virus threatens to destabilize the nascent political systems in affected countries and disrupt the free flow of people and goods in a globalized world economy;\nWhereas the United States cannot truly protect itself from the Ebola crisis without ending the outbreak in West Africa;\nWhereas the United States has addressed the crisis by disbursing over $414 million to date,\u00a0 deploying a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to coordinate the U.S. government response in West Africa, sending U.S. military and broader uniformed services to support logistics, training, and engineering;\nWhereas the Continuing Appropriations Resolution for Fiscal Year 2015 included $88 million to support the international response to the outbreak and to invest in the research and development of Ebola vaccines and treatments;\nWhereas at the time of the initial outbreak, many health workers in West Africa did not have proper training or experience to recognize, diagnose, and care for Ebola patients and prevent transmission;\nWhereas the United States is helping to train health workers from member states of the African Union to directly respond to medical needs in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, but more trained workers are still needed;\nWhereas non-governmental organizations such as Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, American Jewish World Service, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, Partners in Health, Samaritan\u2019s Purse, Global Communities, , and many more are responding to the crisis;\nWhereas the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Center for International Disaster Information operate a database for medical professionals in the United States who are willing to go overseas to fight Ebola;\nWhereas as of November 10, 2014, USAID has received nearly 4,800 self-nominated, non-vetted volunteers through the usaid.gov online registration portal for healthcare volunteers and is passing these contacts to interested aid organizations working in the region for vetting, possible selection, and training; \nWhereas MSF has said what is needed most to fight the epidemic in West Africa is not cash contributions, but rather additional health workers;\nWhereas according to the World Health Organization, over 540 health workers in West Africa, including several Americans, have been infected in the current outbreak and over 310 have died;\nWhereas two nurses contracted Ebola while treating a patient in the United States, and have since recovered;\nWhereas the U.S. Government, in cooperation with international partners, must do everything possible to protect health workers who may come in contact with Ebola, such as by procuring additional units of personal protective equipment (PPE) and investing in research and development of better methods of protection; \nNow, therefore, be it\nResolved, That Congress--\n Recognizes and honors the commitment, courage and sacrifices made by medical professionals,\u00a0 national and community health care workers, government officials, military personnel, nongovernmental organizations, members of civil society, faith leaders, and volunteers engaged in the\u00a0 effort to combat and contain the Ebola Virus Disease, thereby saving\u00a0 countless lives; \nCalls on research and development groups and medical device companies to develop better ways to protect health workers from Ebola infection; \nRemains committed to mobilizing the resources and personnel necessary to help fight the spread of this disease to save lives and to protect the national security and global health interests of the United States;\nCalls on the international community to increase its commitments of resources, services, and personnel to assist affected nations in addressing the current epidemic; and\nRecognizes the need to address long-term solutions to the Ebola epidemic, including by helping to build resilient public health systems.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://cicilline.house.gov/press-release/cicilline-bass-introduce-congressional-resolution-honor-health-workers-responding"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.194535918533802, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}