Ship Holiday Weekend and a day in the Life of Stuart

This weekend is a three day Ship Holiday weekend.  Approximately every six weeks, to allow crew to take time out for a little longer and rest we go into Ship Holiday routine on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Many crew get the whole time off but, of course, this is a working hospital and crew live on board so ...... the wards are still open and medical staff need to work, patients need caring for, dressings need to be changed; there was an unexpected admission yesterday to the hospital so OR (Operating Room or Theatre as we call it in the UK) had a surgery today; crew need feeding; housekeeping staff work as the ship is not self cleaning; launderers continue to wash bedding, towels, uniforms, scrubs as people are still coming and going; reception staff and the Gurkhas need to work too.  And this time, Matthew was on call Friday and Stuart is on call all weekend so they have both worked and Lynne went into the office for a few hours to keep up with the admissions and discharges and order patient meals for Sunday and Monday as it is bit tricky to order in advance.

We took the opportunity on Friday as we were both off to get off the ship and went to a local hotel to chill by (a different) pool.  (We have had a pool at almost every place we have been to since leaving the UK in September!)  It was a great place to relax and just be somewhere different; it was by the sea and, as is often the case, also next to a building site!  We tried to take a taxi back to the ship to get back in time to see a friend off but after about half a mile the roads were completely blocked (as they often are - with no warning or obvious reason and at any time - so we got out and walked back!  Only took about half an hour and we were back in time to say bye and we then went out again for shwarma and pizza.

A few of us at Roume 

View as we were walking

Last Sunday we went back to Roume Island.  We have been there once before and really enjoyed it so took the opportunity to go back as a friend was organising the boat.  Hopefully Matthew will be able to come with us next time - but he was on call!  The last time we went we met an Austrian lady who is a midwife and for a good number of years has been spending three or four months every year volunteering on the island offering midwifery and other medical care - amazing!  We bumped into her again as we got off the boat!  We had a fabulous day with some other crew.  We were serenading by some locals and Stuart couldn't resist joining in.  We even met a young guy, born in Guinea, now living in Bristol who was on the island visiting family and friends!

Over the last couple of weeks we have both had the opportunity to be involved in our, or another, department's devotions.  Stuart led devotions for the Deck and Supply Departments and Lynne was involved with the worship for the monthly Ward devotions.  Good to take time out with others in this way.  The Ward devotions includes time for staff to share stories from their work.

So, what is a day like for Stuart?  Well the deck department starts the day at 0745 with a time of devotion followed by a daily briefing, who is on duty who is watching the water supply and what deliveries are expected.  There may then be a specific safety briefing on firefighting, diving activity or working aloft  Then we disappear our carpentry shop to look at the list of jobs that come to us via the ship intranet.

 High priority jobs are those that impact the mission of the ship and these could be anything from a loose door handle or making up a special shoe for one of the patients.  Then there are the bigger items like moving fitted office furniture or making shelving.  At this time of the year we are also planning work for the maintenance period in June in Las Palmas. The is a constant stream of personal items to fix like, my shoe, my sewing machine, my bicycle,  can you make up a fishing net?  It all great and most work needs some ingenuity as we can't pop down to Screw-fix or Wickes for stuff.  

Since being here we have realised that most of the workshop machinery is old, worn out and not as safe as newer items tend to be.  so with the captains support I have ordered some serious new kit that should arrive in the summer.

We are also training  some of the day crew in basic carpentry skills, as we seldom see any machine tools this training is based on hand tools and we end the course by building a tool box and providing them with a set of tools.  Sadly the only tools we can buy locally are very poor quality and look like they will last only a few months. 

At the end of this field service our day crew will leave the ship and try to find a job locally, if these carpentry skills help them find a job and feel needed then its a step forward.  


Below is a recent story from the hospital...



We love this verse on our cabin wall:

For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you "Do not fear; I will help you"    Isaiah 41:13

Getting Away and A Day in the Life of Lynne

Getting Away

It is high time for another update and Matthew has put us to shame by publishing two since our last one!!  See Matthew's blog  They say that time on the Africa Mercy takes on a different dimension - and that seems to be true!  Or it could be our age!

It is now February, Christmas has been and gone - but we had a great time.  A very different Christmas although we still managed our Little family Christmas Eve tradition of reading 'The Night before Christmas' but this year over Skype.  We are very grateful for the good internet on board and also managed a family Skype the Sunday before Christmas with our girls, Lynne's mum, sister and her two children; on Christmas Day we joined with our church congregation for a carol and prayer; and later that day with Hannah and her Christmas day hosts - friends from church.

We took advantage of the long ship holiday weekend between Christmas and New Year and took a three day trip up country to Kindia with our friends who we did OnBoarding in Texas and field practice in Guinea with - Jennifer, Ian and Merryl.  It was good to get out of the noise, busyness and dust of Conakry and see green vegetation and hear the birds and insects (outside not inside the hotel).  We were reminded of how noisy the ship is!  You may have seen some photos that we posted on Instagram and Facebook but we visited some beautiful waterfalls and were fortunate to have a tour of the Mercy Ships Agricultural Centre where nationals are trained in sustainable farming methods - absolutely fascinating.  We had a brilliant driver in Abdulay who took good care of us, took the potholed tracks in his stride and also acted as our interpreter.

Bride's Veil Falls

At the Agricultural Centre

Still not good at selfies!!

Or positioning photos!

Mushroom farming on the left

Aquaponics under construction on the right

Pool at Kissili Falls

Time for lunch before heading back

Spent some time swimming until something was spotted moving in the water at which point we got out quick - it was a bra!!

It was back to work as normal on January 2nd - whatever normal is but we are certainly enjoying ship life, living on a ship and community living.  We are constantly in awe of everything that goes on here and often look around and think 'this just shouldn't work' ..... but it does.

So, what is a typical day .... or week?

We both work 'business' hours of 8.00 am to 5.00 pm Monday to Friday, although Stuart has now been put on the 'On Call' rota for the Deck Department.  He could be called out for anything at anytime on the 24 hours he is on call - but hasn't as yet so we can't tell you what that entails.  Although Matthew has been for a while and he was putting out rubbish on Christmas Day!

We normally go to breakfast 7.15 am to 7.30 am and then Stuart goes off for Deck Devotions.

Lynne's day as Ward Administrative Assistant is a bit like going to the airport - 'hurry up and wait' followed by 'hurry up and wait', etc!  The day involves checking which patients are on the ward, keeping the statistics and database up to date, finding out which patients are being discharged (only after Doctor's rounds are finished), making their Outpatients appointments, organising discharge photos (all patients being discharged are offered a 'souvenir' photo of themselves and fellow patients, nurses and anyone else they want in the picture to take home.  These are precious items and we heard of a patient who had been treated on a previous field service, kept his photo showing it to crew when coming for follow up surgery some years later when the ship returned.)  Some patients go home but some live too far away to get back to their Outpatients or Rehab appointments and so need booking in at the Hope Centre (which is the the Mercy Ships 'hotel' type accommodation off ship.) Then it's finding out which patients are being admitted for surgery the following day (when screening is finished!), which beds they will be in and if any patients are changing beds.  

There are three wards, with another 10 bedded ward available if needed.  Two of the wards have 20 beds, and the third ward has 15 beds plus two ICU beds and two Isolation beds.  The wards are very busy, and usually noisy, places, particularly in the morning when Hospital Chaplaincy visit each of the three wards to speak, sing and pray with the patients, Doctors are doing their rounds, patients and caregivers are having breakfast and getting up for the day.  Caregivers, who are needed for all patients under 18, sleep under the patient's bed on a mattress.  Spaces between the beds are about 18".  Wards are mixed - male and female, adults and children but they are such friendly places with crew and patients look after, and looking out, for each.

Lunchtime is 12 noon to 1.00pm - but we rarely manage the hour.  After lunch, nurse allocations need doing in time for shift change at 2.00pm; patients meals are ordered for the next day (which is slightly more complicated than imagined depending on the type of surgery, when the surgery is, how many caregivers, etc; also for meal purposes children over 12 are adults!); patient visiting lists are needed for each ward and the gangway for the Gurka guards; more statistics; scanning charts for discharged patients (currently more are discharged than scanned each day!).  All this fits around random jobs, queries and phone calls.  

We normally have dinner about 6pm and try to get on deck to watch the sunset.  Have to be quick though as it happens surprisingly quickly!

  
We are loving our time on board here but don't want to bombard you with too much information at once, so Stuart will share a typical day with you in the next blog (which will be more timely than this one!) and we will share a non-working typical(ish) week another time.

In the meantime these three photos show some of the impact Mercy Ships has had during 2018.

 Although only about 400 crew serve on board at any one time most are short term and this photo shows just how many serve during a year and from so many different countries!  It's great living in a multi-national community!  Interesting, fun, challenging and sometimes just confusing!!