San Rafael Man Heading To Liberia In Volunteer Effort To Help Ebola Patients
SAN RAFAEL (CBS SF) -- A San Rafael man is headed into one of the most dangerous and deadly places in the world on a humanitarian mission to help Ebola patients in Liberia.
Davis Perkins was busy packing Tuesday before departing on a six week deployment to Liberia with the organization Heart to Heart International.
Perkins has a long history of heading into danger zones. He's been a paramedic, firefighting smokejumper, and a volunteer medic in a laundry list of dangerous places like Haiti, Ethiopia and Cambodia.
"They just called me a couple of nights ago and asked if I could go, so we are racing around to get ready," Perkins said.
For a week, Perkins will learn how to put on a protective suit and the latest equipment in Ebola treatment. Villages like the one Perkins is heading to have seen 70-percent of their victims die from the disease which is easily transmitted to health care workers.
Perkins is also a renowned naturalist painter who had a one man show in the Smithsonian.
"He's got a strong heart. He's got what he calls rescue bones. It came from something we've talked about for a long time. Strong heart, strong back," Perkins' wife Crystal Wright said.
Perkins is expected to return before Christmas, possibly to some kind of quarantine in his home.