The Be-Guinea-ng

First off, sorry. I can't resist puns.

Now that that's out of the way, I want to talk about the work that goes on before the ship even arrives in a country. Exciting things are happening this week in preparation for the next field service in Guinea, during which I'll again be serving for a few months (Jan-March)!

This will be the 6th time that Mercy Ships has visited Guinea (not to be confused with Guinea-Bissau or Equatorial Guinea...or Papua New Guinea); the last visit being in 2012. Interestingly, when we return to a country or region a few years down the road, there are some patients who we've asked to return for additional reconstructive work - things that we just can't get done within the limited time we have in each field service. Sometimes these years are needed to allow the necessary bone growth and healing before one final corrective procedure. I've heard amazing stories from Dr. Gary Parker (who has served with Mercy Ships for almost 30 years), who, by the way, is almost certainly the most humble and genuine surgeon/chief of medicine I've ever met. I was floated to D Ward yesterday, and amidst the chaos while he was rounding on all his patients, he stepped aside to where I was pouring meds and shook my hand; "I'm Gary, nice to meet you." Can't say I've met many surgeons who would even notice when a new nurse showed up in their work setting, let alone single them out to make sure he knew their name. Back to his stories, though. There are patients he operated on 10 or 20 years ago, babies whose cleft lips he's repaired, who have brought their own children to him for the same procedure decades later. And he remembers them.

The man is a legend.


Back to Guinea, though.

The reason it's very much on my mind is due to the departure of the Advance team this week to begin preparations for our field service.

 The advance team will begin the process of selecting then renovating clinic and screening sites, establishing immigration and port authority agreements, a berth space for the ship to "park" in, and interviewing & hiring over 200 day crew who will be our backbone once we arrive. They will also liaise with local hospitals and professionals to identify other needs that we can help address with our Medical Capacity Building programs.

Shortly after the ship's arrival in Guinea in August, the Screening Team (pictured above) will begin the arduous pre-screening process; assessing thousands of potential patients to determine who we can best help in the time we have. Of those many thousands, 2,000-3,000 will be given an appointment card to return and meet with a surgeon who will then make the final decision if surgery is in the patients' best interest.

Meanwhile, in Cameroon...

The last Women's Health surgery was last week, and our ladies are slowly trickling out of the hospital. A few have been re-admitted, unfortunately, due to inexplicable infections. Far more than could be coincidental - but despite a hospital review board, in which nurses, team leaders, surgeons & hospital physicians all scoured each case to find some common denominator, we just couldn't put a pin in the cause. They've all begun to rally, however, and we're happy to see them progressing in the right direction. 

Although there will be no more dress ceremonies in this field service, the memory of those joyous celebrations echoes in all the work we do. We still see the odd familiar face here and there at the Hope Center or on the dock for their follow-up appointment.

We're transitioning into General Surgery, now, which means our Women's Health team is going to be a bit scattered, mingling with the other wards.

I feel your pain, Mary.

We have an amazing team, though, and I'm just being over-dramatic. Most of us will still be working together.

If you can call it working...

À la prochaine.