Happy Thanksgiving from the Africa Mercy

Nursing

It is a long weekend here on the Africa Mercy, which means that only the people who need to continue working to maintain the ship and the safety of the patients are still on board. The ships designates a 3-day weekend about once a month in order to give the crew members a rest and time to explore Madagascar. As for myself, I have the pleasure of spending the weekend working with our wonderful patients. So many people work on the ship in different functions to allow us to do the work we do as nurses and medical professionals (only about 50% of the crew actually works directly with the patients). Nursing here is truly a unique experience and it's a gift to work with these patients.... and live right down the hall from them! As we are not allowed to take photographs on the wards since patients have to sign a consent form, here are a couple pictures that our communications team has taken for us over the last several weeks since the hospital opened.

Vololona. Well, that's her nickname.  Since this photo was taken she has had her maxillofacial surgery and is becoming a familiar face on the wards! I cared for her for the first time this week, and was so touched by her sweet spirit and genuine smile. I ended my shift on Thanksgiving walking side by side with her down the hallway, and I couldn't have asked for a sweeter friend on that day.

Playing cards on the ward. Mariette had a birthday while she was staying on the wards with us, and we had a surprise party for her up on deck 7 with cake, balloons, and singing!

Sandrins' foot was turned from receiving a quinine injection that damaged her nerves. I was never her nurse.... but I was her playmate in the little play house on deck 7 where we take our patients to get some fresh air every day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration here on the Africa Mercy this week! There were several options for dinner, but my American cabin mates and I chose to attend the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. The pictures may be blurry since I am borrowing them from Facebook.... but here we go!

Our Thanksgiving table! Our chef did an amazing job feeding the 400 crew members for dinner! Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cheesy grean bean casserole, stuffing, and 4 different desserts! We shared our Thanksgiving tradition with our crew mates from around the world, and many of our friends had their first Thanksgiving ever here on the ship. Our table alone was made up of American, Swiss, and Dutch crew members. Everyone had a wonderful time and was stuffed by the end of dinner... as it should be! As a special gift, Carol (our director's wife), bought each attendee a hat from the local market and as we received it, we shared what we were thankful for with the rest of the crew. 

Our new hats! 

Although it's about 90 degrees outside with sunny skies and palm trees blowing in the breeze, we did our best to get in the Thanksgiving spirit by decorating our cabin door:

Each leaf on the fall mobile says one thing that we are thankful for. Each person in our cabin also drew and decorated a hand turkey.... which means that along with the classic American turkeys, we had an abstract Swiss turkey and a turkey with a giant British flag covering it's body. I loved that our international cabin mates were willing to celebrate with us! Cabin 3437 has quickly become my little family on this ship, and a comfort during this holiday season. It is not always easy to be away from home on a day that usually means celebration with family and friends, and all of you are in my heart no matter the distance. I am so thankful for all of your continued emotional and financial support, as it allows me to live and work in this truly incredible place! 

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" -Colossians 3:17

Screening

We have officially begun screening! After weeks of preparing, we were finally able to meet our future patients when we went to the screening center early Monday morning. In the past, Mercy Ships has done one large screening day for patient selection. However, in an effort to give our patients more time to get to us, allow more time for in depth patient assessment, and to limit crowds and the spread of communicable diseases, screening will be done continuously Mon-Fri over the next four weeks. The current goal is to see between 150-300 patients per day.... and over 2,000 patients & caregivers lined up the first morning! Although we couldn't see them all the first day, people have been coming back all week to be screened, starting to line up around 1:00 am. It's just a small taste of how many people are hoping for healing and physical help in this place. After we finish up screening in Tamatave, the screening team will also open up sites in various villages around the country in an attempt to reach even more of the population.

     The line outside the "hopital".

Most of us worked simply as "crowd control" to keep the people happy and entertained while they were in line. This gave me an opportunity to practice a little Malagasy and French as I walked up and down the line meeting people. Although the langauge is definitely a barrier, I was able to begin building relationships with the people... I cannot express how much can truly be communicated through a smile, a laugh. When you spot someone in the crowd, staring at their shoes, and then see their eyes light up as you offer a simple "bonjour" and a smile straight at them. At Mercy Ships, they call that the "I see you" moment. Love is universal. I took pictures with people in the crowd, asked them Malagasy terms, and.... blew bubbles with the kids! I never knew how magical it can be to let a child blow some bubbles! It kept everyone entertained and laughing... especially when I let the grandmothers give it a try.

Kids practicing blowing bubbles.

As many people as we can help, unfortunately there are still some that we can't. It broke my heart to see small children with severe hydrocephaly - a condition that would be managed in the States, but is out of our scope here... especially as we cannot provide continual care over the years. To see children running around on club feet, bow legs... things that would have been prevented through diet or treated at birth. Yet some simple bubbles bring a huge smile to their faces. The injustice of it is staggering. I have been thinking of a song called Hosanna over the last week, "Heal my heart and make it clean, open up my eyes to things unseen, show me how to love like You have loved me. Break my heart for what breaks Yours..." And while my heart does break for the people that we are unable to help physically, for the suffering our patients have already gone through, I still have hope and a great sense of joy! Because  these kids are starting to wander the halls of our hospital on the ship in preparation for their surgeries:

He has the sweetest smile.

This little girl LOVED the bubbles! LOVED them I say.

She's so cute!

Starting next Monday we will begin officially admitting our patients to begin our surgery season. We have started training with our local "day crew" who we'll be working with, side by side, on the wards. Last night, our orthopedic surgeon gave a lecture on surgeries for osteogenesis imperfecta, genus varus & vagus, quadriceps contractures, and club feet. It is truly incredible because they are doing surgeries here that don't exist in a text book anywhere in the world. Our surgeon actually had to make models out of play-dough himself to demonstrate step by step what they do. Issues that we don't see in first world countries still remain prevalent here, and the Mercy Ships physicians have done an incredible job at creating innovative solutions in order to provide the best patient outcomes. The surgeon closed by saying "We operate on their legs, but you operate on their hearts". It may sound cheesy, but I often think of that role as being one of the key components of nursing, and I'm so excited to get started with our patients here in Tamatave!