Officials from The Bridge of Hope are coordinating with the city of Kirkland to donate a surplused Kirkland Fire Aid car to assist with the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.

There is a lack of sterile transportation options in Sierra Leone for suspected Ebola patients. The disease spreads when Ebola patients and non-Ebola patients are transported in the same vehicle. The donated aid car will be used to transport patients to Magbenteh Hospital in the town of Makeni, in Sierra Leone. According to a fire department press release, there are only three such aid cars serving the over five million people in the country.

Mike Jeffery, Battalion Chief for the Kirkland Fire Department and Director of Operations for The Bridge of Hope, a nonprofit organization in Maple Valley, said the interior of the aid vehicle is made of easily washable linoleum, stainless steel and plexiglass. The stretcher is vinyl. These products are much more easily decontaminated.

“They need specific vehicles that they can keep isolated and clean,” Jeffery said.

The aid vehicle was originally purchased eight years ago for about $125,000, according to Jeffery. With more than 60,000 miles of use, Jeffery said the vehicle would likely be sold at auction for less than $15,000, which is the value at which a city can donate surplused items to areas of need without public approval.

A privately donated Suburban that will be used at the Sierra Leone Bridge of Hope compound will be shipped alongside the aid vehicle. Various hospitals and medical personnel also donated roughly five tons of supplies that include gloves, gowns, syringes, catheters, trauma supplies, vitamins and aspirin, Jeffery said.

Despite the dire need for the aid vehicle and supplies, Jeffery said the contract-related slowdown at the West Coast seaports are causing major shipment delays.

“We’re not on the queue right now for any outgoing ship at this time,” he said. “We’re trying to get our foot in the door. We’ve been on the phone literally for months.”

Jeffery said he is considering transporting the aid vehicle and the Suburban by land to the East Coast, where it could be shipped more easily.

Jeffery said the items should reach Sierra Leone between six and eight weeks after it leaves port. Depending on the status of the outbreak, he hopes a small team from the Bridge of Hope will be in country to transport the shipment to McKenni with representatives from the country’s Ministry of Health.

The Ebola virus has infected more than 21,000 West Africans, killing at least 8,600, according to the most recent estimates. The latest report from the World Health Organization showed the rate of new cases is slowing in the three most affected countries: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is reporting a heavy majority of the new cases.

Jeffery’s wife, Geri, the executive director of the nonprofit, expects that, even after the Ebola crisis slows, it will take years for the country to recover from an education and economic standpoint.

Jeffery said the people of Sierra Leone are doing “much better than would be expected” and hopes schools may reopen by March.

“It’s been such an up-and-down roller coaster so far that you don’t want to get your hopes up too high,” he said.