Contact: Palmer Holt, 704-662-2569, PHolt@InChristCommunications.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 10, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ -- SIM USA (www.simusa.org), the Charlotte-based mission organization, announced today that some of its missionary staff based in Liberia will be returning to Charlotte.
Because the returning staff worked with or around patients infected with the Ebola virus, SIM USA is working closely with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Public Health and the Mecklenburg County Health Department to prepare for their arrival and stay.
For precautionary measures, state and local public health officials are requiring a period of quarantine for the staff and other people who were exposed to Ebola and are returning to North Carolina within 21 days since their last exposure. No returning SIM USA staff member is sick or has symptoms of Ebola infection. The measures being taken are preventative, and public health officials say there is no cause for concern at this time.
Out of concern for the privacy of the returning missionaries and their families, details of their arrival and stay are being withheld at this time.
"SIM USA has been working closely with international, national, state and local public health officials since this most recent outbreak of Ebola in Western Africa began," said Bruce Johnson, president, SIM USA. "We will continue to cooperate and collaborate with them and adhere strictly to their guidelines in the return of our missionaries to the United States."
SIM (www.simusa.org) is an international Christian mission organization with a staff of nearly 3,000 workers from over 50 countries serving in more than 65 nations. In addition to medicine, SIM serves on every continent in areas of education, community development, public health and Christian witness. While SIM stood for Sudan Interior Mission when it was founded 120 years ago, it is now a global mission known as SIM (pronounced S-I-M).
To schedule an interview with Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, contact Palmer Holt at 704-662-2569 or pholt@inchristcommunications.com.
Today's joint press release from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Public Health and the Mecklenburg County Health Department can be viewed at www.mecklenburgcountync.gov.
