Pacific Partnership 2010

Good bye Ternate!  It has been a pleasure serving here and meeting the people of this island.  Here in Ternate  (pronounced Tear-NOT-tay)  the Mercy staff has seen more than 10,800 patients.  We admitted over 160 onboard and did 81 surgeries.  6,200 pairs of glasses and sunglasses were distributed.  We conducted 2-3 MEDCAPS per day, which are the off ship medical clinics, and several Surgcaps, which are the off ship surgery screenings.  Preventative Medicine held SMEEs which are instructional/ educational meetings with local medical students.  The Vets visited several sites and treated over 200 animals.   And, as always, the engineering team (Seabees) are out building, repairing, painting, drilling wells. etc.  Some of them go out ahead of the ship, so they are already working in Timor Leste.  Others leave from the ship each day to work and still others are left behind in Cambodia drilling a new well because there were problems...

Today, I had the privilege of escorting 2 patients and 2 escorts home by helo (it is totally un-cool to call it a helicopter!)  We had picked these ladies up in Tobelo, but their surgeries were more complicated and they were not recovered when we left for Ternate.  So we flew them back to Tobelo today, which was a 45 minute flight one way.  We flew out at 0630 and saw a beautiful sunrise from the air! When we arrived, we had a large welcome committee... lots of people who heard we were coming and came to see the helo.  Our patients were so happy and thanked us for everything and waved us off. On the way back, our pilot circled around anything interesting he saw so that we could all get a great view.  The pics say it all!

Ternate This little kid was GREAT at this game Gail, I found another use for your eggs!  What will the village think?  LOL! Lava rock and Pencil Cacti I was able to get out on "liberty" for the first time here in Ternate.  It is a safer area, so everyone is getting one day and we must be in groups of 3 - 5.  They also have under cover military out patrolling.  They watch over us, but more so, they make sure none of us misbehave!  Our goal is to leave a good impression and promote a positive relationship with Indonesia.  We have had no trouble at all.  My favorite part of being out for the day was experiencing how wonderful the people are.  For most of them, it is the first time they have seen people from another country.  Those with cameras stop us and ask if they can take our picture!  They all smile and wave.  When our tour bus was taking us to the sites, we kept passing bunches of school children.  Every ti...

Saturday, July 17, 2010 We have just completed our first project site at Tobelo, Indonesia.  We spent 5 days here.  The MEDCAPS and SURGCAPS go out into the surrounding communities and screen those who come for care.  We have seen and treated almost 6000 patients in Indonesia so far.  Not bad for 5 days!  Patients who can benefit from the services we have onboard are then brought onto the ship.  At this site, we've performed  50 +  surgeries.  We are using 4 of the patient wards here on the ship plus the ICU for patient care.  The patients come on board, get checked with a thermal scan for fever, then get a chest x-ray to look for signs of tuberculosis.  If the x-ray is indicative, they are then sent for a CT scan.  Unfortunately, if they do have TB, they leave the ship immediately.  Each patient comes with a friend or family member as an escort.  If either one of them has TB, they both must leave the ship.  If...

July 11 The Mercy was joined by a Naval ship named The Richard E. Byrd.  The two ships pulled up along side each other where 4 lines were shot across to help monitor the distance between the ships.  Then, a huge hose was attached to the Mercy to transfer fuel to our ship.  At the same time, the helo was put into action.  Trash was transferred off the Mercy, as well as outgoing mail.  Then, pallets of supplies were carried over to the Mercy.  The whole process was fascinating and amazing!  Imagine the skill it takes to land a helicopter onto a moving ship!  The whole process took about 3 hours and I kept running out to peek each time I had a break from my duties.

Santi Our first patients came aboard in Jakarta.  There, we took on many more translators, another LDSC RN and two patients with their escorts.  Prior to this, it had not occurred to me that there may be patients we could not help and would have to turn away.  Our first patient, and 8 year old girl named Santi, has cataracts and can only see minimally out of one eye.  After the initial exam, the doctors were thinking she could not be helped and that news made us all very sad.  However, further testing suggested otherwise and we have kept her here for surgery!  Both of our patients are now riding along with us to our official stop in Indonesia where they will undergo surgery and be flown back by helicopter.  We do not do the surgery now as the ship is underway and surgery would be risky with the movement. Zandy, from LDSC, interpreting for the doctor We continue our preparation for the next project with inservice, language classes, cultural b...

Sunday, our entire LDSC group went to church in Singapore.  We took the train, then walked a few blocks to get there.  All services were in English as it is the official language in Singapore, even though most people speak Malaysian or Cantonese in their homes. Here, we are 1 degree North of the Equator.  The climate is extremely humid and hot making the vegetation very lush and tropical.  I really enjoyed seeing the many different plants.  Singapore is a beautiful city.  It is very clean and there is green everywhere.  The public transportation system is one of the best in the world.  They told me that one can take the train faster than driving a car.  It was very fast.  This country is very strict with it's laws and punishments are harsh, so I suppose that is how they keep it so beautiful.  There is no graffiti anywhere.  Gum chewing and spitting are against the law.  These things are punishable by caning.  Drug...

My long journey began around noon on July 1, 2010 when I left home to head to the airport in syracuse.  After stops in Chicago and San Francisco, I met up with others from LDS Charities (LDSC) and we flew together to Taipei, Taiwan and on to Singapore.  When we landed in Singapore, I had been in the air a little over 24 hours NOT counting the layovers! After gathering our baggage, going through customs and loading our things onto a bus, we headed to the naval base here in Singapore.  It is a military base shared by the US, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.  After several hours of checking in and instruction, we were able to eat something. I'm so excited to finally be here!  Already, I can tell that this is going to be a great adventure!