Central MA Doctor Infected with Ebola in Liberia
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Thursday, September 04, 2014
GoLocalWorcester News Team
Dr. Rick Sacra
The third American doctor to test positive for the Ebola virus in Liberia is a resident of Central Massachusetts.
Doctor Rick Sacra is from Holden, Massachusetts and is a member of Family Health Center in Worcester and affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Sacra had contracted the Ebola virus while delivering babies in the obstetrics unit of SIM’s ELWA hospital in Monrovia, Liberia.
“Our thoughts are with Richard Sacra, MD, today, as he has reportedly contracted the Ebola virus while working as a physician in Liberia. Dr. Sacra is a 1989 graduate of UMass Medical School and on the medical staff of the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health at UMass Memorial Medical Center since 2010,” said UMass Memorial Medical Center in a statement. “Dr. Sacra has spent much of his career working overseas, including nearly two decades in Liberia. He has a faculty appointment at UMMS as an assistant professor of family medicine & community health, as a function of teaching in the medical school’s residency program at the Family Health Center of Worcester when he returns to the U.S. for periodic respite visits.”
Dr. Sacra has spent a lot of time working overseas, and has been working in Liberia for nearly 20 years. Dr. Sacra was in Liberia working with SIM, an international mission organization.
He is currently in isolation in Liberia and it is currently unknown whether Dr. Sacra will come back to the United States for treatment.
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