Minnesota physician returns to Liberia to join Ebola fight

For Minnesota physician Alfredmy Chessor, the journey to a remote rural area in Liberia this month was bittersweet. It took her to her parents' birthplace. But she arrived amid a deadly epidemic, to lead the first Ebola clinic headed by Liberian-Americans.

The clinic is launching in January as part of an effort by the Liberian and U.S. governments to open treatment units in each of Liberia's 15 counties.

The Minnesota-based American Refugee Committee, or ARC, is in charge of the 60-bed project. Chessor, a mother of two, will serve as medical director on a leadership team made up primarily of Liberian natives from Minnesota.

"As a Liberian, I didn't think it behooved me to sit back and let the international community manage this responsibility," Chessor said. "I felt compelled to do it."

Chessor, a former U.S. Navy doctor, grew up and started her career in Minnesota. Three years ago, her family decided to join efforts to rebuild Liberia after its civil war. Chessor took a job at a missionary hospital. But last summer, as the country closed its schools to help stem Ebola's spread, Chessor and her husband made a difficult decision to leave.

She couldn't stay away for long.

"Ebola is in America now, so why can't you fight it here?" argued her 7-year-old son. But he and her 13-year-old daughter came to accept her decision.

"We are going into a very remote part of the country where there hasn't been a lot of access," he said. "The treatment unit had to be carved out of the rain forest and set up from scratch."

Chessor will stay for at least six months. Like all ARC staff, she will be placed on three-week quarantine when she returns. Until then, she is focused on one key responsibility: making sure her team, made up mostly of locals, stays Ebola-free.