SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Department of Health is monitoring a second Utahn who has returned from a country in West Africa where Ebola continues to spread.

But Karen Mathot, who runs a non-profit organization that helps fund education for children in Liberia, said she was careful there. She has no symptoms of Ebola and is likely to be OK.

She also plans to go back in January, as she said the people she loves "obviously" need the help.

"I've been traveling to Liberia before Ebola was there and I couldn't just say, 'When you all stop dying, I'll come back.' I didn't know how to do that when the people in the country needed help the most, there's no way I could turn my back on them," Mathot said Wednesday.

"I didn't hesitate for one second to go," she said. "I just love the people and I love the country."

Stretching baggage limitations on the two airlines that still make flights to Liberia, Mathot transported medical supplies, protective gear, food and clothing to children left orphaned by the spread of disease in the country. She hopes to obtain enough funding to make transition homes available to the dozens of kids left alone in the wake of the disease.

"It's sad," she said. "There's so much death there. There is not one person who isn't touched by it."

The country, Mathot said, is overrun with people who flocked there following 14 years of civil war. Ebola has only made things worse.

She's intending to not only provide food and shelter, but psycho-social treatment and educational distractions to help the recently orphaned children avoid long-term problems believed to be associated with the trauma of losing a parent or loved one and all organization within their communities.

She said the children can't possibly understand what is unfolding around them.

"People don't want to take these children in. They're afraid of them. They're stigmatized," Mathot said, adding that she receives calls all the time with concerns of "what are we supposed to do with all these children."

Dozens need help in various regions of the country, she said, as they are quarantined for weeks until they are cleared from having any infection.

"The primary focus is on getting Ebola under control, which is good, but these kids need to be protected and taken care of," Mathot said. She hopes the culture in Liberia will change as Ebola fears decrease and the disease is further contained in the country.

She also hopes fewer people, including Americans, will be afraid.

"You can't get Ebola from someone who doesn't have it," she said. "It's not as easy to get as people think."

So far, Mathot, of Cottonwood Heights, has not experienced any symptoms of Ebola and she has said she doesn't want to get it, but the risk didn't keep her from helping.

"If you make decisions based on fear, I think it tends to paralyze yourself," she said.

During her assessment of orphan conditions in the area, Mathot said she was repeatedly asked to wash her hands in chlorinated water and wear gloves inside facilities.

She endured repeated questioning and health checks at multiple airports in her travels home, including being detained by United States Centers of Disease Control and Prevention crew members, who met her in an isolated room at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport while donning complete personal protective equipment, including masks and goggles.

"They wouldn't come within 3 feet of me," Mathot said, adding that she respects the precaution being taken in the U.S. to avoid Ebola. She mentioned, however, that more people die of influenza, which can be prevented with an annual vaccine.

The CDC determined Mathot's risk was low and she was instructed to take and report her body temperature twice a day for the next 21 days. At the first sign of any symptoms (sudden onset of fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, followed by vomiting, diarrhea and/or rash), she is to isolate herself and notify the local health department.

Utah Department of Health spokesman Tom Hudachko said Utah hospitals are prepared to take on any patient exhibiting symptoms.

State officials were notified of Mathot's return before she arrived and Hudachko said she has been contacted and will be called daily to ensure her health and the health of the community.

"It gives us better control of the situation," he said. "It also puts the traveler more in tune with symptoms, giving them a good education about things to look for."

But, he said, transmission risk can only happen if a traveler is symptomatic and he doesn't expect it to get that far.

"If you look at the individuals who have contracted the illness in America so far — every case in the country — it has been a case of someone who has provided really direct medical care to an infected person," Hudachko said. "Of those having casual contact with infected persons, interaction in every-day life, none has become sick."

Mathot, who cares for four children she adopted from Liberia, is not under quarantine order. The CDC recently backed away from such mandatory measures.

"I don't want people to be afraid," Mathot said. "Liberia needs help and if people are afraid to go there and help, or if they're stigmatized or punished for going over, then we're not going to get this under control and it will become a problem for the entire world."

Related:

WHO: Ebola decline in Liberia could be real trend

The rate of new Ebola infections in Liberia appears to be declining and could represent a genuine trend, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, but the epidemic is far from over.

On Wednesday, The Associated Press reported that the rate of new Ebola infections in Liberia was declining, leaving empty beds at many treatment centers in the country. There's a concern, however, that the decline can't be sustained because many people don't seek help from the government there.

Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have been hit hardest in the recent Ebola outbreak, which has caused more than 2,705 deaths in Liberia alone, according to the CDC.

The World Health Organization and the CDC are providing health workers and supplies to the West African nations stricken with Ebola, but Mathot said many of the non-governmental organizations previously planted in those countries have left.

She formed Lifting Liberia in 2009 with the help of a Liberian who has since died from Ebola. So far, the organization has supported up to 250 children through high school graduation and Mathot vows to continue those efforts once the orphans are cared for. Schools in the area remain closed

"The more centers I can open, the more kids I can help," she said. Mathot has worked hard to secure contacts and earn respect in Africa over the years.

"I do what I say I'm going to do," she said.

Lifting Liberia is in need of funding to send additional supplies needed to set up transition homes for kids orphaned by Ebola.

Visit LiftingLiberia.org or find Lifting Liberia on Facebook to donate.

According to the organization, "$20 is enough to feed a Liberian child for a month. Every donation goes to helping provide food, shelter and necessities for children whose lives hvae been devastated by the disease."

Contributing: Mike Anderson

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