Our speaker Ruth Walne played a short video that showed the range of medical procedures that they do and the effect this has on the patients and their families.
Mercy Ships have been in operation for 40+ years offering free, life-changing surgeries to people in some of the poorest countries in the world. Most of Ruth’s work as a Plaster Technician, has been in West Africa. The ship arrives in country for about 9-10 months at a time. The types of surgery range from correcting bow-legs and knocked knees due to Ricketts [diet and possibly regionally related] to burns and tumour removal.
On the Ruth’s Mercy Ship there were 5 operating theatres and 82 ward beds, where care givers sleep under the bed. There is a CT scanner, X-ray, a fully operational hospital Laboratory and Pharmacy. The ship is crewed by volunteers from over 40 countries with half of the volunteers being medical. The remainder being chefs, cleaners, porters, teachers etc. Ruth has volunteered several times ranging for 3 week stays to 3 months, and had been able to see some of the counties, their culture and history, that all helps in the rehabilitation of the patients.
Each visit to a county has three stages. The first is the recruitment of in-county day personnel, patient triaging, and finding port space and the ubiquitous form filling. The second stage is the deployment in country, lasting about 10 months. The third stage is the training and support for the local staff to leave a legacy of improved healthcare.
At each country visited a rehabilitation centre, the Hope Centre, is set up landside to serve as a home for patients in their rehabilitation and recovery. It is also used to train local medical professionals and when the Mercy Ship moves on, it is given back to the country to be used as either a hospital or medical professionals training centre.
ercy Ships have recently partnered with Bathsheba Foundation to start a farm looking at trialling companion plants aimed at improving soil fertility with the hope of improving the diet of population.
Ruth was thanked for her very informative and interesting talk.