Contractor Life: Colorado man leading USAID response to Ebola in Africa

More than 6,000 miles from Colorado, Ebola is raging in several countries in Africa. More than 2,600 people have died and another 5,000 have been infected in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia -- countries that are ill-equipped to deal with the virus.

"This is ground zero, if you will, the country where most of the deaths have occurred," said Tim Callaghan, who is heading up the Ebola Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) with USAID, the government agency which handles international disasters.

Callaghan's home is in Loveland and he spoke to 9NEWS on Sunday via Skype from Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. He's been stationed there for the past seven weeks, as that country deals with Ebola.

"It's a situation where Ebola, for the first time, is in urban settings, which creates a lot of problems," he said.

Part of the problem is that people live in close quarters, making it easier for the virus to spread. Callaghan said efforts to contain Ebola require not just more medical assistance, but a changing of human behavior. It's a different kind of disaster than others Callaghan has been involved in, including the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.

"It is very different form Haiti because this is a virus that's spreading and you have to take a lot of issues around infection control: washing your hands, protecting yourself, not touching dead bodies," he said.

Nearly two months into his assignment in Liberia, Callaghan sees progress, but said there is still a long way to go.

"This is a difficult time. I know the people in Colorado are wonderful folks who have gone through their own emergencies over the last couple of years, from forest fires to floods—and this is a tough situation here," Callaghan said. "And I ask people to remember and think of the folks here and the many people who have suffered and died."

At this point, Callaghan has no idea when he'll be able to come back home to Colorado. He said he is looking forward to seeing the mountains again and having some quiet downtime.

Original Article found Channel 9 News Colorado