Jane's Mercy Ship blog

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My First Blog Post

Welcome to Senegal

Hi everybody!
Finally after some help from digital natives on board, I have finally managed to post something! I apologise to those of you who have read this post, I hope to post something new this weekend.

The journey to Senegal went very smoothly and I met up with some Mercy Shippers in Brussels. A lot of people return year after year to do service so I felt quite the new girl.
After a very warm welcome on board, we were given a short orientation and then shown our cabins. At the beginning I shared a 6 berth cabin with a lab technician from canada. After the 1st week we were 6 in a cabin with no window and 1 shower! It was soon clear to me that this was going to be the most challenging aspect of life on board.
The next morning was an orientation morning for all newcomers with lots of information ranging from safety on and off ship to different bugs found in Africa to the sanitation system!,
Senegal is a politically stable country and although mostly muslim, different religions live peacefully side by side. Mercy ship hasn’t been to Senegal for 23yrs so is not well known amongst the general population . As the weeks progressed however, more people asked us if we were from the hospital ship and were truly thankful for the work we are doing here. A very humbling experience.
Work in the pharmacy is fascinating with a lot of interaction between various faculties. The hospital itself opens next week but screening has been taking place for the operations where they check the general health and do extensive blood tests . Anaemia is a common problem of the patients here firstly due to poor diet and secondly due to schistosomiasis which obviously has to be treated before the operation takes place. I have already seen many goiter patients with huge swellings disfiguring their faces and causing a real risk to their health. Their thyroid hormone levels have to be tested and hypo or hyperthyroidism treated before they are operated on.
There are 3 main roles of the pharmacists on board. One pharmacist accompanies the doctors and surgeons on their round, checks doses and answers any questions , the second refills the ward stock and checks the patients medication and the third fills prescriptions brought to the pharmacy for in and out patients and mans the crew pharmacy. I have had a couple of weeks to get used to the very outdated pharmacy computer system and will also be on call every 3rd week, so life promises to be very interesting.
I haven’t had much opportunity to explore Dakar but have been off ship a couple of times. The most interesting trip was a boat ride to Goree island, where during the 17th to 19th century millions of slaves were traded. It is a car free island and it was nice to get away from the dust and fumes of Dakar.
Attached are a few photos of my trip so far. I hope you are all well and I shall write again soon!
Lots of love
— Oscar Wilde.

A tour of the Mercy ship

As I have been on call this week and unable to leave the ship this weekend, I thought I would give you all a little tour of the Africa Mercy.

The Africa Mercy was originally a ferry operating in Denmark before it was bought by Mercy Ships in 2007 and converted into a floating hospital in Tyneside England . It is currently the worlds largest non-governmental floating hospital.

It has 8 decks. The 8th deck has outside space only and is where the pool is (unfortunately not in use at the moment) and the only deck where we can walk all the way round. It has nice views of Gorre Island and the surrounding port.

Deck 7 also has a space outside where every afternoon mobile patients can have some outside time in the “fresh” air. Deck 6 is where the laundry room and crew galley is and also where the Academy is – the school for the round 40 children of the crew on board.

Deck 5 is the most important level of the ship. It is where the entrance and reception is, the dining room and Starbucks. There is also a library and conference rooms and the International lounge where every monday morning a meeting of all the african mercy staff takes place.

Deck 3 houses the modern hospital with 5 operating theaters. an intensive care unit, an opthalmology unit X-ray and lab and of course the pharmacy. There are also 5 wards with beds for a total of 80 patients. Cabins are also on deck 3 and 4. The ship has accommodation for 480 crew members including cabins for families, couples and singles. My 6 berth cabin is on deck 3 so I have a 15 second walk to work!!!

The pharmacy is very small and I work with 3 pharmacists. The pharmacy is stocked according to WHO essential medicines list . It has its own formulary and serves both the hospital and crew. I will post a more detailed article about what my work in the pharmacy involves.

The supply chain for the Africa Mercy stretches across the globe with containers with supplies mostly shipped from Texas or Rottjerdam. Temperature sensitive products are airmailed.

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