Dive Brief:

• Healthcare workers who have so far prevented a worldwide Ebola outbreak were honored by Time, which designated them all "Person of the Year" in the magazine's annual special issue dedicated to the most influential people of the 2014.
• The most recent World Health Organization statistics tabulated that out of 17,800 documented Ebola cases, 6,631 people have died. Easily the worst Ebola outbreak in history, it could have been exponentially worse if not for healthcare workers dedicated to fighting the virus, according to Time's editors.
• "Anyone willing to treat Ebola victims ran the risk of becoming one," wrote Time's managing editor Nancy Gibbs. "The rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand and fight. For tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to boost its defenses, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving, the Ebola fighters are Time's 2014 Person of the Year."

Dive Insight:

Now that the election cycle is over (for the moment), the mainstream media has vastly reduced the column inches and airtime dedicated to covering the Ebola story. Time's editors were among the few who have been dedicated since day 1 to cover the story as one of the greatest potential health crises of the modern age.

Gibbs described the fight against Ebola as a war, however, she also remembered that healthcare workers aren't soldiers. They never took an oath to risk their lives in order to save lives, yet, there they are, standing a line and offering what Lincoln called "the last full measure of devotion" to end suffering and prevent a worldwide plague.

Time was right to honor them, and we will all do well to remember them and their efforts all throughout the year. They are heroes, and our lives are better because they are here.