0030 Climb Jacob's ladder to board the USNS Byrd.
0100 Finish check-in and receive room assignment
0115 Scare roommate as I burst in carrying a backpack and large duffel bag
0130 Receive a quick ships tour
0200 To bed (or cot as it were)
0500 My roommate is up…so I am as well
Our team musters in the helo hanger at 0630. We have five providers on our team: a general physician, a pediatrician, an optometrist and two dentists. All told, there are 12 of us on this mission. We are going to a hospital in Sataua, Samoa on the island of Savaii, where we will establish a clinic.
The scenery on the helo ride in is amazing. Savaii has but one road. It circles the island near the shore. The islands center is mountainous and bathed in shades of green that I've never before seen. We are only a few hundred feet above the jungle, but it is so thick that individual trees cannot be distinguished; they simply blend together as if one giant organism.
We land at a small air strip where some vans were waiting and drive to the clinic site. The hospital is on a beautiful piece on land; a small peninsula with a bay on each side. The hospital itself…not so beautiful. It is an open air building consisting of several small rooms all joined by covered walkways. The facility is old. Several windows are cracked or missing all together. The paint is peeling and what little equipment they have has been neglected. It is immediately apparent that we have a huge opportunity to really help these people.
Within hours, we've transformed the facility. It now has two dental bays, two medical exam rooms, a surgical suite, and optometry room, and a pharmacy. I have only worked in a handful of pharmacies in my time, but unless there is a Walgreen's on top of Mount Everest, I'm pretty sure the pharmacy we setup in Sataua has the best view of any pharmacy in the world.
From behind the pharmacy counter (built out of a series of old lecture podiums) I look east, over a bay filled with crystal blue water. Waves break over lines of coral exposed by the low tide. On the far shore are coconut palms swaying gently in the wind. There are no other buildings in sight, just nature…it's absolutely beautiful.
As I take in the view, fatigue takes hold. I'd been running on adrenaline for hours now. The meager three hours of sleep I've achieved in the past 24 hours are finally catching up to me. I'm exhausted, but excited for tomorrow and the opening of our clinic.
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