Analyze

Denise DeGarmo, associate professor of political science at University of Illenois, took camera team on tour through Weldon Springs. She explained that instead of undergoing remediation, the site at Weldon was turned into a natural reserve after the initial cleanup (at which workers received scarce information about dangers of the materials they were working with). Deniese reports that this way one did not have to do another cleanup, but she further reports that material has migrated into ground water of surrounding areas. Another stakeholder reports that people go there for recreational purposes and children are playing in the area. I find it difficult to distinguish emergency responders in this situation (except for the initial cleanup laborers), as toxic waste sweeps out slowly, and thus body burden only shows up over time. I was very surprised about the possibility to circumvent action and removal of toxic wastes by turning a site into a natural reserve and would have liked more information about this policy in the documentary.

Emergency response was portrayed in the film through the team of engineers who tried to contain the problem, those who laid pipes to attempt to pump water into the reactors, the team of firefighters who sprayed water into the reactors, and the miltary crew who dropped water over the exposed fuel pools.

Emergency responders in this were mostly in charge of the inhabinants in the surrounding communities, as many of the scenes were considered too unsafe for normal "emergency responders". 

Liberian emergency responders are portrayed in the film as being completely overwhelmed by the situation at hand and unable to cope with the nature of the illness, people's innitial denial to the extreme communicability of the disease, and the sheer number of patients. Most predominantly, first responders are illustrated by 2 abandoned ambulances on the side of a road and by the story of a woman saying that an ambulance was called to a dying pregnant woman and they ended up leaving her on the side of the road for an ebola crew to respond to, which came too late.

Emergency response is viewed in the film from the perspective of a potential patient rather than the organizations or medical professionals. From this perspective it is easy to see how the public can lose faith in the ability of their hospitals and doctors to protect them. The public did not have the information to understand that the emergency response groups were working as hard as possible, instead many people were angry at the time it would take for an ambulance to arrive, or the fact that the hospitals had to turn away patients. This emphasizes the importance of communication as the emergency responders would have had more success if the public had been cooperative, but the public could not be cooperative while their feared for their lives and the lives of their families.

Emergency responders are portrayed in the film as being understaffed and overwhelmed by the outbreak. They show hospitals having to turn patients away due to being overwhelmed. They also show how Liberians were frustrated with this lack of communication between doctors and the patients. Nurses started dying from the disease, forcing hospitals to close. Responders had to deal with the community's denial of the disease, the lack of education, the rapid spread, and the number of patients. 

Emergency response was completely lacking in man power and containment efforts. There wasn't much structure to the efforts taken by emergency response in terms of containment and education of the public. There were far too many of those in need and way too few emergency response teams. Hospitals closed due to lack of personnel as well as doctors getting infected themselves. People were dying left and right and being left on the side of the street. Responders weren't able to get to people in time in some cases. Locals began to take out aggressions and frustrations on emergency responders, despite them working at full capacity. The lack of man power, communication and education lead to the emergency response being sub par in this situation. 

Emergency responders were not the main focus of the film but were portrayed as having to deal with difficult situations that they had little real control over, mostly because the state was portrayed as trying to do the right thing but making things worse. The consequences of the government fell on the emergency workers. The doctors and responders had to risk personal safety and had to deal with people not trusting them and ignoring their requests.

Emergency responders and doctors are portrayed in the film with the upmost dedication, skill, and care for life. They were portrayed as the heroes of this disaster.

The film is primarily the narratives of many first responders, so they play a large roll in the meassage being protrayed. They are seen as heros but also paid the price of their decisions through health issues.