Weekly Scoop

I am going to change the name of this blog to www.KatieWillPostOnceinaBlueMoon.blogspot.com. Sorry about that folks. I've opened up to write I don't know how many times but the words just don't come. 

My first of only 2 blog posts this field service was a short poem (if you can call it that) called "Stretch". Reading back over it, I can definitely say that everything in that poem has been true at one point or another. It has undoubtedly been a year of growth. I've thought back to it many times. But it's hard to find the appropriate words to unleash into the limitlessness of the internet. I keep coming back to a blog post and I think soon I'll be able to share something personally but until then, I thought I would start taking advantage of this great resource that our communications team gives called The Weekly Scoop. The Weekly Scoop is a weekly collection of news items, patient updates, prayer points and features a crew biography. Photos and captions are both handled by our photographers and writers on board. To be honest, I had this idea back at Christmas time and I just haven't done anything about it yet. My own fault. 


I like it because it gives a much better idea of what's going on in the hospital that I could ever hope to do. I'll be posting these every week but this will be the only time I announce it on Facebook; after this time I will only post to Facebook when I've written something on my own. 

So without further ado, here is the weekly scoop from the week of February 15th (they are posted a week after the fact so that Mercy Ships has the opportunity to use it for organization-wide marketing efforts without timing and releases being affected.) 

News Updates

Plastics Update

Our reconstructive plastic surgery program is in full swing. Heading into the last week of surgeries, already 60 children and 36 adults had received complex plastic surgeries. Many of these procedures restored joint function for patients whose limbs or neck had been frozen by burn scarring. It is a great joy to see children who arrived fearful and in pain, now rushing around the wards giggling and playing. Although surgeries are nearly done, there are still many more weeks of rehabilitation and recovery ahead for our courageous patients and their supportive nurses and physical therapists! 

Biomedical Graduation

These six men represent hope for safer surgeries in Madagascar. This is the first graduating class of professionally trained biomedical technicians in the country after successfully completing an intensive four month course led by Medical Aid International in partnership with Mercy Ships. Biomedical technicians are instrumental in maintaining all hospital equipment functioning properly, particularly operating room equipment, which is vital to conduct safe surgeries. Tim Beacon, founder of Medical Aid International, shared the following words: "Your work over the last few months has been a journey. This is the beginning of a journey for a lot of people. [You] are the seeds that will grow the biomedical program in this country." 

Patient Updates

Lantosoa

Lantosoa looks like any other Malagasy teenager--until your gaze reaches her feet. The bubbly 14 year-old refuses to be phased by the contrast between her ordinary-sized left foot and her right. She loves to play hop scotch and soccer/football. She skips rope and walks to school each day. But none of these everyday activities are easy as "Lanto" resolutely carries the huge weight of a foot afflicted with gigantism.

A friend of Lanto's sister told their family about Mercy Ships treating conditions like this, with no charge. So Lanto, along with her sister, bravely travelled to have her foot examined. Now Lanto is on the Africa Mercy on a journey to find hope and healing and potentially wear shoes for the first time!

Elina 

A tragic situation led to six-year-old Elina suffering from third degree burns on the right side of her face, neck, and arm. Her mother, Charlotte, came to Mercy Ships to ask for help in restoring her daughter. As a single mother, she could no longer afford to provide the medical care her daughter urgently needed. Mercy Ship donors and volunteers renewed Elina and Charlotte's hope for the future by offering her access to immediate medical care as well as a free surgery to restore Elina's mobility in her neck and arm.

Prayer Requests

Prayer for Albertine

Albertine has had a long healing journey. She first came to Mercy Ships in January 2015. After a free surgery to remove the facial tumor that burdened her for so long, Albertine returned home where she was reunited with her husband and children. She needed time to recover before a second surgery would complete her physical restoration. It's taking Albertine a little longer to heal from her latest surgery. Will you join us in praying and showing lover for this courageous young woman? 

Crew Bio: Elizabeth Lefeber (USA)

Nursing on this floating hospital has been a goal of Elizabeth's for half of her life. During her early teens in Wisconsin, Elizabeth was deeply inspired by the novel The Dangerous Voyage Reel Kids Adventures) by Dave Gustaveson. In the story, the teenage characters had an adventure that brought them on board the Anastasis, our first Mercy Ship. Elizabeth's heart was captured by the idea of serving the poor and she set her mind to pursue a career in nursing. "I wanted to be a part of that," she reflects. "Mercy Ships remained in the back of my mind all the way through college. When I made contact regarding opportunities during nursing school, I found I Needed to have to years' experience after graduating. So I talked with a friend on crew, I stalked the website, and I read the blogs of people serving. Then I waited until I had enough experience to apply. Elizabeth gained that experience in working in a surgical rehabilitation center in Illinois. "Everything worked out in God's timing," she says, regarding her five year wait. In late December, she arrived for her two-month voluntary service. "My eyes teared up when I first saw the ship. When our bus pulled up I was shocked and full of joy. I'm so glad to be here!" 

Serving with the admission team in Madagascar has been all Elizabeth hoped it would be. "I love it! I love getting to meet and welcome our patients. Sometimes they are nervous and sometimes they are excited. Their medical problems have completely affected their lives. This is their hope. I especially love to walk the patients (as they embark for their surgery) up the gangway. Professionally I have learned a lot about different conditions; things I hadn't experienced before. My first patient was a little girl with (the flesh eating disease) NOMA. Her whole face was disfigured. We had talked about it as a team a few days earlier. It is surreal that this still exists. Cleft lips and tumors too, on people who are so much older. You would never see that in developed countries. Yet these people have and manage it all their lives. They still work--this is their normal." 

Elizabeth believes she will go home having witnessed surgical work that transforms our patients, transforms their families, and their communities.