Richard Sacra, the Massachusetts doctor who contracted Ebola in Liberia, continues to show improvement.
The Nebraska Medical Center, where Sacra is being treated, said in a news release Monday that staff members are trying to find new ways to keep him entertained inside his room in the hospital's Biocontainment Unit.
"They've brought in some books and a chess board, so that's been helpful," said Debbie Sacra, Richard's wife. "Someone also brought in a Nerf hoop, which Rick discovered he might need a lot more practice with. Fortunately, he still has plenty of time to sharpen those skills."
She said her husband still tires easily, but mentally he is becoming sharper every day.
"He's been able to have long conversations with several people he's close to," Debbie Sacra said. "He spoke with his pastor at Holden Chapel in our hometown of Holden, Mass. along with a colleague of his in Liberia, Dr. John Fankhouser. Staff members have also commented on how talkative he's becoming.
The 51-year-old Sacra is the third American aid worker to be sickened with the Ebola virus. He recently received blood from a fellow doctor who battled the disease, and has also been given an experimental drug that doctors refuse to identify.
Sacra headed to Liberia after hearing that two other missionaries were sick. He served with the North Carolina-based charity SIM. Sacra delivered babies but was not involved in the treatment of Ebola patients, so it's unclear how he became infected with the virus that has killed about 1,900 people.
