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Territorial Army nurse Andy Hall from Maidstone flies to Sierra Leone to help Ebola victims

By: Annabel Rusbridge-Thomas

Published: 00:00, 17 October 2014

Updated: 16:11, 17 October 2014

An army medic has left bootcamp workouts in Maidstone to help Ebola victims in Sierra Leone.

Andy Hall, 25, has travelled to the capital, Freetown, where he will be based at the Connaught Hospital helping to treat those with the virus in an isolation area that he helped set up.

A nurse with the Territorial Army, Mr Hall will also share his knowledge of UK medicine to help West African medics improve patient care, as Ebola claims 4,500 lives.

Andy Hall has travelled to Sierra Leone to work as a volunteer

Mr Hall, from Larkfield, is also an instructor for British Military Fitness, which has run training sessions in Mote Park for the past five years.

His work in Africa will help the King's Sierra Leone Response Partnership run by King’s Health Partners Academic Health Services Centre.

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It is not the first time he has been in Freetown – he visited in August where his experience of building military field hospitals was put to use setting up a 16-bed isolation ward at Connaught Hospital with the help of other King's members.

The isolation ward at the Connaught Hospital in Freetown

He said: "The guys were working so hard and so fast to get this unit finished. In just five days they have achieved so much. We desperately need more beds in Freetown and the unit will help carry the load."

But as he returns, the isolation ward has now reached capacity.

Mr Hall, who served in Afghanistan in 2010, said: "I had been watching the Ebola outbreak unfold from the UK and it was incredible to be in Freetown."

The virus emerged in Guinea in March 2014 and an outbreak was declared in March.

An Ebola exercise at a hospital in Newcastle

Sierra Leone was placed on high alert and the county's politicians requested King's play a central role in the country's response - which it has been working to do ever since.

Keith Walkman, regional manager south for British Military Fitness added: "Andy is a great asset to the organisation.

"He balances his time with us with his work for the TA and Ebola response."

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Maidstone MP Helen Grant said: "The Ebola crisis in West Africa is desperately in need of international aid."

The Ebola response partnership is working with the Connaught Hospital in Freetown

She said she wasn't aware of Mr Hall's trip but that she wished him well.

She advised people considering similar action to heed advice on the Foreign and Commonwealth office website.

To donate to Kings Health’s work, click here or text KSLP88 and the amount to 70070.

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