When emergency department nurse Jessica Loomis learned two Christian missionaries sickened by the Ebola virus would be brought to Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital for treatment, she began praying.
She didn’t just pray for the missionaries, however. Loomis prayed she would have an opportunity to work on the team treating Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, medical missionaries who were sickened while serving in West Africa. This is an area of the world Loomis knows well from stories told by her grandparents, Don and Gwen Reece, retired Southern Baptist representatives who served in Nigeria from 1959 to 1992.
The first team chosen to work with Brantly and Writebol were Intensive Care Unit nurses. A few days later Loomis joined the team of 21 nurses and five physicians who were caring for the missionaries. Brantly and Writebol spent three weeks in a special isolation unit at the hospital before being released from care Aug. 21 and 19, respectively.
Loomis said Writebol told stories of her work in Liberia, stories reminiscent of those Loomis grew up hearing from her grandparents.
“What a blessing it has been to connect with missionaries from West Africa because they are so close to my heart,” Loomis said.
The recent outbreak of the Ebola virus has killed more than 2,200 people in West Africa.
Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone have been the countries hit the hardest. The virus is spread through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids, but Loomis and her fellow Emory health-care workers took great precautions, wearing face masks and protective body suits to guard themselves as they cared for Brantly and Writebol.
Despite the dangers of Ebola, Loomis said she was never anxious about working with the patients. Instead Loomis calls the experience “joyful in the midst of a season of trials for both the patients and their families.”
One incident that especially stood out to Loomis happened one day as she was delivering breakfast to Writebol. Writebol’s son, Jeremy, had brought the meal for his mom and was waiting outside the room to talk to her by telephone. Loomis went into Writebol’s room to deliver the food but as she set the food down, a cup of water spilled. Writebol immediately began to help Loomis clean up the spill.
‘I could feel the love’
“In that moment I had tears in my eyes because I could feel the love she had for the nurses and staff that had been helping her. Instead of spending that moment talking to her son, this kind, humble woman spent a few moments helping me clean up water,” Loomis said.
Loomis, 25, and a native of Decatur, worked at Jackson Hospital in Montgomery before moving to Atlanta in 2013. One of the best parts of working with the Ebola patients was the opportunity to spend more time with them, she said, which doesn’t happen with patients who come through the emergency room.
In the end the entire experience made Loomis feel even more connected to the people and missionaries in West Africa. Though she does not serve abroad, Loomis said her mission as a nurse is to care for people and to help meet their physical, spiritual and emotional needs. That mission was instilled in her from an early age and is part of the missions legacy of Alabama Baptists that runs deep in her family, she said. Not only is she the grandchild of missionaries, but her father-in-law, Keith Loomis, is an associate in the office of collegiate and student ministries for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. Jessica Loomis met her husband, Kyle, when they were both students in Baptist Campus Ministries at Auburn University. Her grandfather, Don, remains active in Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief as well.
“My grandparents and parents instilled in me a love for people and a compassion for those in need,” she said. “My grandparents have told me stories my entire life of caring for those who were extremely ill or didn’t know the love of Christ.”
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