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The United States Postal Service halted mail delivery.

“This really upset the residents,” Range says. “They were probably as upset about not getting their mail as anything.”

When the mail carrier eventually returned to The Ivy, he was wearing a mask and blocked off his vehicle with cones.

Finally, health officials announced that Troh and the other quarantined residents would be moved, and they sent in the Hazmat team to clean the apartment.

“It is not so much a concern that we need to get her out of here because it’s dangerous or anything like that,” City of Dallas public information officer Sana Syed told reporters at the time. They were moved, she said, because they and the rest of The Ivy’s residents were scared.

A decontamination crew filled and removed about 140 barrels of material from apartment 614, and officials escorted the family to a secret address.

The media’s departure, for the most part, coincided with Troh’s.

Vickery Meadow is a 2.68-squaremile neighborhood bordered by Central, Royal, Abrams and Northwest Highway. It is home to 25,329 people — almost 100 forrent complexes and 15 single-family homes. It is ethnically diverse. More than 4,351 school-age children live there. In the ’70s and ’80s it was a booming singles community, but by the ’90s the area was so downtrodden that a neighborhood improvement district, which garners municipal funds to help struggling areas, was approved.

Today the area — Lake Highlands’ nextdoor neighbor — is an example of what a good improvement district can do. Since the Vickery Meadow Improvement District formed, crime has dropped 60 percent — from 4,262 violent crimes in 1990 to 1,336 in 2013, according to police department statistics.

Before moving to Dallas, Stacey Roth was a beat cop in New Orleans’ French Quarter. She is a tough lady (she was in three physical fights during the last Mardi Gras season she worked, she says). Yet her family voiced concern two years ago when she accepted a job as public safety coordinator for the VMID, which, among other efforts, funds private security for Vickery Meadow in collaboration with the northeast Dallas police division.

“They said it was a dangerous area,” Roth says. “When I got here I had to laugh. My first thought as I drove around was that this is beautiful compared to where I came from.”

Rebecca Range, former executive director for the Lake Highlands Public Improvement District, also was surprised when she started as VMID’s executive director last year.

“Even being right next door, I had a lot of misconceptions about Vickery Meadow,” she says. “I had a perception of a scary place with a lot of crime. I could not have been more off track about what this neighborhood is about.”

Vickery Meadow is special, she says. “The strength and beauty of the people here does not match the outside,” she says, referring to potholes and infrastructure issues, “but that is what we are working on now.”

There are some 40 nonprofits that support Vickery Meadow residents — health services, hunger prevention, education enrichment, English language and citizenship courses, and refugee services among them.

Vickery Meadow is known around Dallas as a refugee community. Range says those statistics are beginning to shift as the properties become more attractive to renters. Still, some apartment complexes are more refugee-intensive than others.

Between 80 and 90 percent of The Ivy is occupied by refugees, Range says.

Most of those are from Burma, and some are from Africa and other parts of the world.

The moment Range and Roth received word about the Ebola case, they knew to prepare for the inevitable media takeover and, thanks to the improvement district, had the resources to do so.

“One of the benefits of a neighborhood improvement district is that the area has contracted security,” Range says. “If anyone ever wonders what a public improvement district does, well, it does a lot of things, but in this particular instance, the city and Vickery Meadow was so lucky to have one in place, because Stacey and our contracted security were able to secure the property immediately.”

That extra security is in large part what the taxpayers buy when they support the improvement district, Roth adds.

The Store In Lake Highlands

Willow Tree sculptures are beautiful, carved figures. Find one to fit your holiday tradition, or choose from the many other selections, for thoughtful gifts for family and friends. 10233 E NW Hwy @ Ferndale (near Albertsons) 214.553.8850 Mon-Sat 9:30-5:30 TheStoreinLH.com

Little Things

Let The Little Things be your one stop shop for Christmas this year. Locally owned online children’s shop carrying toys, books, gifts, and clothes sizes newborn to 8. shopthelittlethings.com 214.821.3015

Eclectic Galleries

Unique gifts and decor from 200 artisan studios –including license plate coozies! Pottery, jewelry, turned wood, textiles and more! Made in Texas and the US. 6725 Snider Plaza 469.759.6501 Find us on Facebook.

WALTON’S GARDEN CENTER

Shop Walton’s Garden Center to create a festive home and garden for the holidays. Great Christmas trees, decorations and gifts for the indoors and out! 8652 Garland Rd. 214.321.2387

In the days following Duncan’s diagnosis and death, the press corps moved from Vickery Meadow, to Presbyterian Hospital, to the M Streets and the Village Apartments, where, respectively, two nurses who cared for Duncan also developed Ebola — they both have recovered.

Public panic waned as Louise Troh and the other residents of apartment 614 were released from quarantine with a clean bill of health.

As Shay, Roth and The Ivy’s assis-

Yoga Mart

Not everything at Yoga Mart is for yoga. Stop in for unique gift items, bags, books, jewelry and more. Yoga Mart 6039 Oram (at Skillman) 214.534.4469 yogamartusa.com

T.HEE GREETINGS

Tis the Season for T. Hee! 9661 Audelia @ Walnut Hill Lane, Lake Highlands 214.747.5800 t-heegifts.com