KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs outside linebacker Tamba Hali was born in the African nation of Liberia and spent his first 10 years there before fleeing the war-torn country to come to the United States.

Liberia has returned to the news headlines as the African country most affected by the deadly Ebola virus. Hali announced this week that he became involved with Heart to Heart International, a humanitarian group whose goal is to expand access to health care in third-world countries.

Heart to Heart International plans to open and operate a 70-bed Ebola treatment unit near the country’s capital of Monrovia, where Hali was born.

“I’ve been blessed to be in this country and get an education and play a wonderful sport, but there is a crisis going on in Liberia,” Hali said. “It’s hard to talk about it … but people are dying, and they’re dying at a rapid rate.

“It’s only the right thing to do, speaking out about the crisis that’s happening there. People contract the disease and just die. We’re looking for people to support (this project).”

Hali still has members of his family in Monrovia, but said to his knowledge none have contracted the virus. His father, mother and four siblings now live in the United States. He plans to help in donating money and becoming involved in the organization’s fund-raising effort in any way possible.

Heart to Heart International is a Lenexa, Kan.-based organization that was founded in 1992 and has since delivered $1.2 billion in medical aid to countries around the world.

— Chiefs first-round draft choice Dee Ford received some unwanted notoriety in the loss to San Francisco when television replays showed him turning away from running back Frank Gore on a running play in the second half.

“He didn’t read the play right,” defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said. “It came out, he kind of felt pass, it was kind of a soft run fake look to him, and then I think he just kind of morphed into his pass responsibility there. Obviously, it was a bad read on his part and he needed to come up and be part of the force there.”

Some fans and pundits questioned whether Ford was turning away because he didn’t want to make contact with the hard running Gore, but Sutton said that wasn’t the case.

“That had nothing to do with toughness,” Sutton said. “That’s just not reading your keys properly. It was kind of a different defense where we had him off into coverage to start with. He probably hasn’t had enough reps of those and I think he’s going to get that part.”