This week, Time magazine announced its Person of the Year: the Ebola fighters. The runners-up included notable people such as Vladimir Putin and the Ferguson protestors. All of those considered where notable newsmakers this year, but nothing captivated the news — especially within healthcare — than Ebola and the brave souls fighting this enormous fight.

This past year a small, microscopic virus showed the world its strength. It spotlighted our deficits in disease control and prevention. In this age of modern medicine, this virus continues to ravage West Africa with little hope in sight.

As of Dec. 7, the World Health Organization reported 17,908 confirmed or suspected cases with 6,373 documented deaths. Although the cases are demonstrating a slight decline in Liberia, there has been an increase in reported cases in Sierra Leone and Guinea. Clearly, Ebola is not ready to go hide as it has done in the past.

Ebola has devastated a continent. The horrors of families being completely decimated and hundreds of unwanted orphans being rendered homeless continue to be reported. And these orphaned children are unwanted for fear of them being affected. Imagine seeing an orphan with no one willing to hug her for fear of being infected themselves.

When Ebola finally landed in the United States, the horror of our ill-preparedness was front-page news. We watched firsthand how our sophisticated healthcare system was rendered helpless and nurses themselves became infected. We were held captive by a microscopic virus.

Quickly, politicians positioned themselves for power and attention, while healthcare workers feared they would be left unprepared to care for the patients they were trained to help. The horrors continued, just on a different level.

But, during all this madness, the Ebola fighters marched on. They selflessly put themselves in harm's way. With each patient cared for, they knew the potential for contacting this grave disease was ever-present.

The unsung heroes whose names we never learn. The workers on the street, interviewing people door-by-door seeking out the disease. Educating the public in an attempt to prevent further spread and death.

They work in a county that at the beginning of this epidemic had four ambulances for a population of over 4 million. Liberia now has 10.

We learned of the efforts of Doctors Without Borders, whose mission is to provide medical care to all, despite national borders. As the first-aid group in the region, they used their experience to quickly respond to a new outbreak. Quietly, they assisted the people of West Africa.

However, as the epidemic took a drastic turn in early summer, their call for assistance went on deaf ears. They were joined by other humanitarian-aid groups, but it was quickly clear Ebola was getting the upper hand, while the international community stayed far away.

The local doctors soon realized they were fighting an incredible battle. But they did what heroes do — they looked around at their resources and they continued the fight. There were no isolation units in any of the hospitals in Liberia, so Dr. Jerry Brown, medical director of Eternal Love Winning Africa (ELWA) Hospital in the capital Monrovia, turned his humble chapel into its isolation unit.

These were the heroes. While the international policymakers debated actions, the Ebola fighters — looking into the eyes of death — made solutions. These solutions saved lives and prevented further spread.

When a man entered a Dallas hospital with Ebola symptoms, the nurses who were to care for him could never know that he would carry a threat of death. The nurse heroes who cared for the first Ebola case in the United States were the proverbial guinea pigs.

They were the unauthorized experiment that would show us our lapses in our healthcare system. They would test a system that had never been tested in such a way. Again, they stared death in the eye and did what nurses do — they tried to care for their patients.

Ebola is far from gone. It continues to wield the sword of death in West Africa as the rest of the world lets down its guard. The heroes continue to do the legwork, despite the horrors. Hopefully, we have learned our lessons from the horrors and the heroes. As for now, we honor the heroes.