WUNRN
WEBSITE LINK INCLUDES MERCY SHIPS
VIDEO.
Mercy Ships Bring Hope
& Healing
Mercy Ships
is a global charity that has operated hospital ships in developing nations
since 1978. Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the forgotten poor by
mobilizing people and resources worldwide, and serving all people without
regard for race, gender, or religion.
Not
everyone can give of themselves as a volunteer, but your support for our
cause can make a difference in the lives of the forgotten poor. Short-term
crew can volunteer from two weeks to two years depending on the position and
typically fill service roles or very specialized medical or technical
positions. The ability to utilize professional volunteers as Crew allows
Mercy Ships to maximize our donor support and serve those who need help the
most.
Short-term crew can volunteer from two weeks to two years depending on the position and typically fill service roles or very specialized medical or technical positions.
Around the world today, billions of people live in fear and desperation, with
impure water, inadequate food, and little or no access to health care. Behind
every statistic is a person waiting for hope and healing. Utilizing
hospital ships, Mercy Ships delivers medical excellence with integrity and
compassion to the world's forgotten poor by mobilizing people and resources
worldwide. Mercy Ships serves all people without regard for race, gender,
or religion.
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http://allafrica.com/stories/201203071270.html
SIERRA LEONE - MERCY SHIPS CLOSE GAP IN MATERNAL & INFANT HEALTH CARE
7 March 2012 - Garden Valley, TX
— Recently, a young Sierra Leonean woman made a trip back to the African
country of her birth to volunteer onboard a floating hospital, the Africa
Mercy, which is operated by Mercy Ships. She is alive today, thanks to a Mercy
Ships medical intervention two decades ago.
This year on International
Women's Day, the global nonprofit highlights her inspiring story as an example
of the lives of women and children being saved every day through improved
maternal health. Despite progress in Millennium Development Goal 5, pregnancy
remains a major health risk for women in Africa.
According to the World Health
Organization (WHO)1, only 42% of births in Africa are attended by skilled
personnel. Many mothers and children in developing countries suffer serious
injury, disability or death due to complications that would be preventable or
treatable in developed nations. For the past 20 years, Mercy Ships has been
addressing women's and children's health issues in West African nations through
the deployment of their state-of-the art hospital ships.
"Put simply, it is thanks to
Mercy Ships that both my mother and I are alive today. That alone makes me want
to give something back," says 18-year-old Tina Regina Conteh, now from
Australia thanks to the nation's refugee resettlement program.
Back in the early 1990s at the
start of Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, Tina Regina's parents, Catherine
and Augustine Conteh, awaited the birth of their first child. As Catherine's
labor continued for a number of days, the family's apprehension grew. Although
they took Catherine to the local hospital, they did not have the money to pay
for a Caesarean section. This situation is all too common in West Africa. In
many cases both the mother and child die. If the mother does survive, she often
suffers an injury – called an obstetric fistula – from the pressure of the
baby's head on the pelvic bone. The tissue is torn, usually leaving the mother
incontinent and unable to bear additional children. Sadly, the poor woman is
often abandoned by friends and family – left without any means of support.
The Contehs were not aware that a
Mercy Ship was docked a few kilometers away in the port of Freetown. The ship's
British anesthetist Keith Thomson happened to be touring the hospital that day
and noticed Catherine's distress. When he learned that the family could not
afford $100 (the equivalent of about six months' wages) for the necessary
operation, Thomson decided to pay the fee himself. And the story had a very
happy ending – Catherine was saved and a healthy baby girl, Tina Regina Conteh,
was born.
This incident, along with a
number of other issues in the years following, converged to contribute to the
initial development of the Mercy Ships vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) and
rectovaginal fistula (RVF) program, which began more than ten years ago. Now
the surgical program onboard the Africa Mercy not only repairs obstetric
fistula but also provides specialized surgical training for African surgeons,
thus increasing awareness of the condition in their nations.
Dr. Lauri Romanzi, Clinical Associate
Professor of Urology at New York University's Langone Medical Center Division
of Female Pelvic Medicine will be one of the surgeons volunteering onboard the
Africa Mercy this spring.
Within Mercy Ships goal of
helping to close the gaps in maternal health in the ports served by the ship,
Dr. Romanzi will mentor two Togolese surgeons in aspects of obstetric fistula
repair during her six-week stint onboard in April and May. Previously she has
done VVF surgery in Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Somaliland
and Tanzania. Between 60-70 women have been accepted for fistula surgery during
the Mercy Ships visit in the port of Lomé.
"When you take care of the
women, you take care of the men, you take care of the children, you take care
of the village; you contribute to the possibility of a solid foundation for the
future of a country. Women suffering obstetric fistula are among the most
desperately underserved, impoverished women on earth, suffering shocking degrees
of disenfranchisement that require the deepest capacities of human resilience.
These women are heroes. It is a privilege to know them and an honor to care for
them," stated Dr. Romanzi.
Similarly, Tina Regina is
creating a circle of service as she aspires to become a registered nurse and to
dedicate her life to helping others, even serving a short while onboard the
Africa Mercy. When she finishes her nursing degree, she will continue to make a
contribution to the lives of women – helping to create happy endings to their
stories.