Glenview Fire Fighter Volunteers in Africa

Scott Waddle, a Glenview fire fighter and tactical medic, recently spent three weeks serving as a volunteer paramedic in the West African country of Sierra Leone, he wrote in a letter to Patch. He was part of the Village Medical Project in the remote diamond region of Kono.

During his service, Waddle helped set up seven clinics in villages that had little if any medical services.

"We were able to see over 1500 patients, treating for conditions ranging from malaria to scabies," he wrote.

Sierra Leone is still recovering from a civil war that ended in January 2002. Life expectancy in the country is about 40 years and proper medical care is hard to find.

Waddle worked with a charitable organization that is trying to reduce the mortality rate by sending teams of doctors, nurses and paramedics equipped with medical supplies to the country’s villages.

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