The Spice Islands

This has been a pretty eventful week. Last Sunday we were surprised to learn that we would all have one day of liberty and get to tour the island of Ternate. My group went on Monday. The two islands we are docked near, Ternate and Tidore, are known as the “Spice Islands.” People were sorting cloves and nutmeg along the side of the street. Our tour bus took us to several forts built by the Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese. Then we went to the Sultan’s Palace and ended at the local beach. Our tour guide told us that the island only gets like 10 tourists per year, so we were a big attraction on the island.

Tuesday, I got to go on my second MEDCAP to Tidore. It was a very busy day. I got to go with a pharmacist from the US Public Health Service, an Indonesian pharmacist, and we had several other translators. Whoever was hosting us was really nice and even brought everyone a morning snack, lunch, and an afternoon snack. Everytime I turned around, someone was bringing me some excellent homemade food, which is a definite change from the MRE’s/not eating that usually takes place.

The end of the week I had my first-ever night shifts. I got to make all the pre-op IV’s for the next day and we got all of the discharge medications ready for all the patients getting off the ship. It is a good thing that the ship is large and anchored, because I don’t know how well I would have done if is was smaller and rocking. I got used to sleeping during the day. Because there are no windows down in my berthing, I don’t really ever know what day or time it is. However, I do not think it matters how much I sleep during the day, I am always tired by 5am.

I am trying to get readjusted to working days again. We are underway for one day as we travel to Ambon and on the 27th I am going on a 7 day overnight mission. I am really excited! We will be sleeping on the Australian ships that Brian slept on, and I have heard nothing but good things. There is even a rumor of a helo ride, but we will have to see.

Selamat Pagi

That means good morning. I'm pretty much fluent in Indonesian now. I'm sorry it has taken a while to post a blog. The internet on the ship is very slow, and that is if we are lucky enough to catch it when it is working. But anyway, I went on my first MEDCAP last week. It was a 3 day 4 night MEDCAP which I feel very lucky to have gotten. Our transportation was an Australian LCH (Landing Craft Heavy) to our site in Moritai about 2 hours from where the Mercy was anchored. The ship was similar to the ones the allied forces used on D-day to storm the beach. The front of the ship has a door that drops down so soldiers could run out onto the land. The Aussies were great hosts as they fed us well and provided a place for us to sleep.

We went to two different locations on the island of Moritai. The drive on the first day was about an hour and took us along the coast of the island. There were many people in the streets seemingly awaiting our arrival. They were very friendly and excited that we were there. Our team of about 40 people worked well together and served well over a 1,000 people during the three days we were there. The pharmacy was super busy, but luckily, we had three or four Indonesian interpreters to help counsel the patients. One or two of the interpreters were actually Indonesian pharmacists.

The second location was at a school only about 5 minutes from the pier. There were a lot of kids running around keeping us entertained. People mainly complained of aches and pains along with some stomach issues. There were some infections as well that we were able to treat. It was a great experience and I look forward to getting to go out again soon.

This week I am not scheduled for MEDCAPs, but I will be heading inland for some other activities. Tomorrow, I head out to play some basketball as part of a community socializing activity. It would be nice if it was indoors but I'm definitely not counting on it; so, it will be interesting to see how long I last in 100 degree heat index. The following day I get to go on a tour of the area which will take us to various landmarks and to a beach. So I should have some more stories to come.

MEDCAP in Tobelo

Yesterday was my first MEDCAP! We went out to a town called Tobelo and set up in a school. The school was many small buildings with a large open common area in the middle. So, all day it was possible to see the people waiting and kids running around playing. I arrived around 7am, but my preceptor had been there since before 6am and everything was pretty much organized and ready to go. Patients started coming in around 7:30 and we worked all day. I am told that we served over 600 patients and filled over 800 prescriptions. We had lots of help. Besides John and myself, we had an Indonesian pharmacist, an Indonesian medical student working as a translator, and later three Indonesian doctors from the town came just to help out. At one point in the day we had 5-6 translators all counseling at once. I could see them teaching how to use an inhaler and all of the motions looked like the ones I would have made. I wish I could have done the counseling myself, but all of the translators did a really great job.

There were a ton of kids running around and playing all day. I was told by our translator that many of them have never seen a Caucasian person before, so every time I turned around, someone was taking my picture. Sometimes they would also ask me to be in the picture with them. I kind of felt like a celebrity by the end of the day! There are a lot of pictures of me looking very hot and sweaty floating around in Tobelo.

I also got to try my very first MRE (meal ready-to-eat). I had the marinara with meatballs, as I was told to stay away from the cheese omelet at all costs. It tasted like Spaghetti O’s, which is much better than I expected. Overall, it was a successful day and I am excited to go on my next MEDCAP next Tuesday. Today, I am back on MID shift, which is 10am to 10pm. I am looking into getting some pictures up soon. Lastly, I want to send out a special "Happy Birthday" to my husband, Forrest, who turned 30 today. There will be celebrating when I return.

Arriving in Tobelo

I have been trying to post a blog entry for several days now, but the internet on the ship is not very reliable. It has been down for about three days now, so I am just going to continue to write and post whenever I get a chance.

Today we finally arrived at our first destination, Ternate. I got a tour of the ship’s bridge yesterday evening and got to see all of the navigation gear, the guy steering the ship, and the navigation maps, which gave me a better idea of where I am. I haven’t seen anything but blue water and the occasional distant island for about a week. Not that that is a bad thing.

While we have been underway, there have been many activities to keep everyone busy. Last Wednesday, we picked up 28 palettes of medication, which the entire pharmacy has been diligently sorting and pre-packing. By pre-packing, I mean counting out 30 or so pills and sticking them in a little bag to be handed out at the onshore clinics. About 15 people have been working on this task all day, every day, so you can imagine the amount of medication that we picked up. I received my work schedule yesterday and it looks like in the next 10 days that I will be going on two MEDCAPS (these are the onshore clinics). The first one is Friday. I will be going out with my preceptor, John, and I am very excited! Brian was just informed that he is leaving today for a 5 day overnight. I think he will be sleeping on an Australian ship docked about three hours away. Everyone on the ship is really excited to get started.

Brian and I gave a presentation on malaria yesterday. We focused on prophylaxis and treatment for non-medical personnel and why they should be taking their doxycycline. About 50 people showed up and I think it went pretty well.

I think the most interesting event, so far, has been the “Crossing the Line” ceremony. It is a tradition with all sailors when a ship crosses the equator. They have just started allowing civilians to participate. It involved making pirate shirts, performing in a talent show, and being woken up very early the next morning. There was a lot of PT (physical training) and I was very, very wet by the end. Before the ceremony I was considered a slimy pollywog, but now I am a trusty shellback! It was a lot of fun.

home sweet home

After a nice stay in Singapore, Kris and I are safely back in the US! We disembarked from the Mercy the afternoon of Thursday July 1st and spent a few days visiting sights in Singapore. We were even able to meet up with Brian and Julie for a few days! I absolutely loved the city! The public transportation system was amazing, and we could take the metro or a bus everywhere we wanted to go. We also took a bus tour around the city to learn a little bit of history and culture from the country. Some of our favorite sights were Sentosa Island, the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari, and the Botanic Gardens. However, we had time to explore most of the city, and see almost all of the highlights! We were kind of sad to miss the 4th of July at home, but we ended up going to a big party on the US Navy Center at Sembawang. There was a fireworks show and the navy band played songs like God Bless America during it. Then the band provided entertainment for the rest of the night while everyone ate burgers and hotdogs. We were really glad to still be able to celebrate an American holiday while in a different country. We met a lot of amazing people in Singapore and we were very sad to leave. But we arrived at the airport on Tuesday in the middle of the night, and started our journey home at 5am Wednesday morning. It was the longest day ever, but we are finally back and excited to share our experience with everyone!

last week onboard...

The past few days have gone by so quickly! So on Friday, I was part of the local MEDCAP team. It was about a 45 minute bus ride outside of town, but there were still a huge amount of people to treat. It was the only local site, so we had much more pharmacy staff than all of the other MEDCAPs that I had been to. There were 6 pharmacy technicians, one Mercy pharmacist, 2 Japanese pharmacists, and a handful of translators that were all helping to make the pharmacy run smoothly. This large staff made for a much more manageable day compared to all of the others. During our lunch break we were able to walk down the street to some local vendors who were selling rice, meat, and pastries. There was even a fried toucan at one of the stands! On Saturday I was on the AM shift in the pharmacy from 7am-7pm, but the pharmacist let me go to the OR in the morning to watch a surgery on a 4 year old boy. They did a right hernia repair and right hydrocele fenestration. It was a really short and uncomplicated surgery, but it was really neat to see a different side of medical practice. I thought that I may not be able to stomach a surgery, but I was surprised how calm and at ease I was in the OR. In the afternoon, I got a lot of practice in the IV room with some tips and guidance from a really talented technician. We also had some excitement in the afternoon with a code situation. It was awesome to see the pharmacy react in a very quick, efficient, and calm manner in this circumstance! At the end of my shift, I repacked the supplies for the last MEDCAP on Sunday. We packed a lot of extra supplies which was a good thing because we really needed them the next day. On Sunday, I got to go to the final MEDCAP of our mission in Cambodia. It was a really busy day and we saw and treated over 1600 patients. Even though we took extra supplies, we still ended up running out of a lot of medications. Sunday night it was nice to have the whole pharmacy team back together again. We had missed the 5 members who have been out on the fly-away MEDCAPs! We all hung out in the pharmacy and shared stories about our individual experiences in Cambodia. I really loved it here and I plan on coming back someday to see all of the sights that we did not get a chance to see. Some of the people onboard got the opportunity to take a day trip to Ankorwat, an ancient Buddhist temple that is one of the 7 wonders of the world. They said it was an incredible sight, so I would really love to see it. Also, I would like to visit the capital, Phnom Phen, because I have heard that it is a fantastic city to spend time in. So on Monday at 1500 we started underway to Singapore! It is a bitter sweet feeling for me because I have loved my time onboard so much that I do not want to leave. But it will be nice to go home and see everyone that I have been missing for the past 5 weeks. I do love being underway though! It is fun to go out on the deck with the sun shining and the wind in my hair. I am really going to miss that feeling. Actually, I’m going to miss a lot about being on the Mercy. This was a wonderfully rewarding experience both personally and professionally, and I will surely never forget it! (written June 27 -- the internet on the Mercy is really unreliable, so I had to post this when I got home)

Finally on the Mercy!

Monday, June 5th 2010
I am finally on the USNS Mercy and we have set sail! I arrived in Singapore a day early and then found out that we were getting two days of liberty to go back into the city. This was really great because Brian and I got to meet up and spend two days with Kris and Renee. It was really great to hear all their stories and get lots of advice on how to live on the ship and what to expect. We returned to the ship on Sunday night and set sail this morning. It was exciting to watch the ship pull away from the pier. Later in the day, everyone in uniform “manned the rails,” meaning they literally lined all the railings, as we said goodbye and passed the Japanese ship that had been accompanying the Mercy. The Japanese ship did the same. So far it is a very smooth ride with minimal rocking, but I have been warned that it may not stay this way.

So far, life on the ship has been busy. There have been several orientation meetings with the Captains and Commadore, the safety crew, and with the Project Hope team. Were were suppose to have a Man Overboard drill and a Abandon ship drill, but they are postponed until tomorrow.

I have a few more meetings this evening, one of which is for anyone that is new to the berthing area. The berthing area is an interesting place. It is a large room that sleeps about 100 people way down in the belly of the ship. Like Renee and Kris before me, I have the top bunk. Bunks are three beds high. I was a little worried I might fall out overnight or step on someone below me as I was climbing, but so far so good. The ship is also divided into sections to protect from fire, flood, etc. This means that in order to go to different sections, I need to climb stairs, walk across the ship and go up or down. There are approximately 80 stairs between the berthing area and the mess hall, where we eat. Needless to say, I am getting plenty of exercise.

The plan for the ship is to stop in Jakarta on July 5th and pick up medications, but we will not be getting off the ship. Then we sail for a few more days until we arrive in our first location on July 13th. There will be some down time, but there are many educational briefs planned in the mean time and Steel Beach, which means a cook out on the hangar level. Once we reach Jakarta, there will be medications for us to prepare. Brian and I are also scheduled to give a presentation on malaria , so there should be plenty to keep us busy, even if we are not yet working in the pharmacy.