Rep. Youngblood donates ambulance

Montserrado County Electoral District #9 Representative, Madam Munah Pelham Youngblood, has presented a second-handed ambulance to the district to help with the ongoing fight against the Ebola Virus.

District Nine, which pays host to the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Sinkor, Monrovia does not have an ambulance of its own, something that exposes residents to health problems. Representative Youngblood is the second lawmaker to have donated an ambulance to a district since the outbreak of the virus here.

While launching an Ebola awareness campaign in the district on Wednesday, she also constituted a community task force to work with the National Ebola Taskforce in ensuring that the battle against the tropical disease is won.

Madam Youngblood representing the opposition Congress for Democratic Change in the House of Representatives said it is time that residents of the district galvanize efforts in combating the virus or the nation risks losing more lives.

Speaking at the Don Bosco Youth Center in New Matadi Estate Wednesday, the youthful lawmaker reminded that Ebola is a virus, noting that it has affected the fabric of the country’s health sector, exposing some weaknesses of the national government.

She urged the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf led administration to revisit its strategies in combating the virus. Madam Youngblood pointed out that the current approach to the virus is not yielding much result as the country loses more lives and those that are alive, living in fear that they could become the next victims.

Speaking at the ceremony attended by House Speaker Alex Tyler, Central Bank of Liberia Executive Governor, Dr. Mills Jones; Youth and Sports Minister, Lenn Eugene Nagbe, amongst other officials of the government and hundreds of residents of the district, she however, said there is hope at the end of the tunnel that Liberia could overcome the virus, but dedication and straight adherence to preventive measures announced by experts.

A resident of the district, Madam Patience Flomoku, said the donation by the lawmaker left her in tears as her (Patience’s) sister died recently in the middle of the night due to the lack of ambulance to have taken her to the hospital.

Madam Flomoku praised Representative Youngblood for the level of concern demonstrated to her people in the national crisis, especially with the fight against Ebola that has attracted international attention.

Commenting, Central Bank Executive Governor Jones applauded the lawmaker for her commitment to the fight and urged residents of the district to join the fight by regularly washing hands, not hugging one another, and avoid shaking hands, among others.