Rotation Two Volunteers Complete Work

It hardly seems possible that more than six weeks have passed aboard the Comfort. It seems like all one day. As we steam for the liberty port in Cartagena, we all can look back, with pride and humility, on the opportunity we’ve had to provide quality health care and education, and hope, to the tens of thousands of people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic and on the beautiful islands of Antigua & Barbuda. The numbers speak for themselves—and when you break them out by categories they’re staggering, with new records being set every day during the last week before we “pulled the hook” in St. John’s Harbour. Before we arrived, many of us were wondering why we were even going there, since it’s not a country one thinks of as being underserved. We were anxious about how we’d be received because of rumors—which were not wholly unfounded—that we might not be able to do any surgeries on the ship for a variety of political reasons. What we found turned out to be quite the opposite. The government officials and local doctors and nurses warmly greeted us, and we were busier than ever, as borne out by the numbers. The operating rooms handled as many surgeries as in Haiti, and did it in one day less. The icing on the cake was that Nurses’ Week was celebrated while we were there, and this provided many opportunities to socialize with the local nurses who worked side-by-side with, and were taught by, the Comfort’s nurses. And, as always, there were many, many compelling cases of patients’ lives being changed because of the care they received. One night, to give just one example, at the customary “1900 Confirmation Brief”—the meeting that recaps the day’s events and gives us the plan for the next day—one of the doctors showed a video he made of an interview with an elderly patient. I didn’t write down her name, unfortunately, but all of us will remember her story. She had cataract surgery on both eyes, having been blind for more than five years. She expressed her gratitude for having her sight restored…and for being able to see her young grandson for the first time. There were a lot of moist eyes when the video ended.

So now we’re underway to Cartagena. Everyone’s excited about taking liberty. Even while enroute, we’re able to do some fun things that not every humanitarian volunteer gets to do. Such as, yesterday some of us got to drive the boat and go on a tour of the engine room. Anyone who thinks scullery is the hottest, dirtiest job on the ship needs to spend 30 minutes down there!

I’m not sure if I’ll have a chance to blog again from Cartagena. If I don’t, I’ll sign off now with a wish that everyone who’s reading will think about doing something for another person in need every day—even a smile counts! No matter where you are or what you do for your “day job,” you can provide someone with hope.
--Tom

HOPE Volunteers Complete Work in Antigua

Even in the final moments during the Antigua mission, Project HOPE healthcare volunteers continued to make substantial and sustainable changes to many patients’ lives. Due to their efforts and those of the USNS Comfort’s medical staff, a 9-year-old cerebral palsy boy got a wheelchair, a 35-year-old quadriplegic man got the antibiotics needed to save his life, a 55-year-old woman was treated for a severe allergic reaction, and a 37-year old woman (who had already had one non-debilitating stroke) got medication to treat her severe and uncontrolled hypertension—probably saving her life.

Even as we packed up our gear, the Antiguans kept thanking us for our efforts. “God bless Project HOPE,” said one lady. “We all thank you so much for being here.”


-By Dr. Ken Iserson, serving as Project HOPE's volunteer medical director in Antigua

Support Project HOPE Volunteers

Restoring Sight in Antigua

One of the anesthetists showed a video at last night’s Confirmation Brief. It was an interview with an elderly woman who had 2 cataract surgeries this week and had been blind for 5 years. She spoke with gratitude of how she was able to see her grandson for the first time onboard Comfort. There were many moist eyes in the audience.

Project HOPE volunteers serving in Antigua.

--Tom

Project HOPE Volunteers Experience Record Breaking Days and Technical Breakthroughs

Monday and Tuesday saw record-setting days at the clinics on shore and a technical breakthrough onboard Comfort, and were packed with special events. Where to begin?

The breakthrough was a video conference of a surgery on the Comfort that linked to doctors at Walter Reed. I’m told this is the first-ever ship-to-shore real-time video conference. There was only a 0.5 second delay between what the surgeon on Comfort was seeing and what the doctors at Walter Reed saw. This opens the door for some exciting possibilities. When the medical department on the ship needs a specialist who isn’t onboard, all they have to do is get the specialist to a video room. It will also make surgical screens at the mission clinical sites more efficient by allowing the doctors on the ship to “see” the candidates at the sites one minute, and still be able to get the OR the next minute to do surgery. This will cut down on a lot of the “dead” time getting from the ship to the clinic and back.

The special events – it’s Nurses’ Week. Our educators have been doing training with the Antigua Nurses Association and with student nurses. Many local nurses and students came aboard Comfort in the afternoon for a tour of the ship and some cake and ice cream on the mess deck, and then a group got together for a church service and opening ceremony last night.
Another special event was a visit from the Governor-General of Antigua & Barbuda – the Queen’s personal representative – as well as the Prime Minister and other high government officials. When they toured the ship, they greeted many of the patients by name. It’s a small island, after all!

And finally…the numbers. On Monday, our medical providers set a record for the number of patient encounters on the mission to date, and then on Tuesday broke the record. I didn’t get ashore either day, but I saw everyone come back in the evening, with faces that showed how pleased and proud they were of the work they’d accomplished…and they were tired! Same goes for the providers onboard. We have a total of 150 surgeries booked for the mission, so they are very busy, too! We sent a team by helo to Barbuda on Tuesday. The island has a population of only 1500, and we saw 500 of them that day. And…for the mission we passed the 100,000 health care encounter milestone yesterday.

So Continuing Promise 2009 is on a crescendo…looking to wrap up in Antigua & Barbuda this Friday on a high note!

--Tom

Volunteers Continue Work in Antigua

Myriads of poor, medically underserved Antiguans crowded the two medical sites to receive basic care. HOPE’s volunteers, working at the Multicultural Center and St. John’s School improvised health centers continued delivering excellent medical care to a wide variety of patients. Simultaneously, our ship-based colleagues assisted as the first surgeries were done. Our education team moved ahead with their ambitious professional development program – now teaching Advanced Cardiac Life Support at St. John’s University

-By Dr. Ken Iserson, serving as Project HOPE's volunteer medical director in Antigua

Photos of Volunteers at Work in Antigua

Linda, Sandy, Tom and Kelly are joined by the "Three Amigos" -- Captain Ware, Commodore Lineberry and Captain Finger -- at the ceremonial turnover of gifts in kind in St. John's, Antigua

Ken, Kelly, Elie, Linda, Sandy, Jan and Darlene muster in CASREC, going ashore in Antigua.

This is how they got ashore. The Coral Ark is easier to embark and disembark but she is SLOOOOOOOOW. Gives us more time to work on tans and enjoy the ever-changing colors of the water.

Lynn, Susan, Michele and Jane good to go for the first day of medical education and training in Antigua.

Dr. Darlene Lee consults with a pediatric patient and her mother in Antigua.

Dr. Ken Iserson and a family in Antigua.

Kelly Magee kept schoolkids smiling at the main clinic site in Antigua.

Jan Auerbach triaged hundreds of patients per day in Antigua.

Sandy Larson with a happy patient.

The Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Antigua & Barbuda gives the opening declaration for the Continuing Promise mission in his country.

Project HOPE Volunteers Begin Work in Antigua

Greetings from Antigua!

The mission here officially began on Wednesday with an opening ceremony in the Multicultural Center. The Prime Minister, the country's Chief Medical Officer and a representative from the Ministry of Health, Social Transformation & Consumer Affairs spoke and then toured the clinic, which was already up and running. A plaque near the entrance of the Center says it was partly paid for by the People's Republic of China...this underscores the diplomatic aspect of Continuing Promise. The Center is just across a channel from the BLZ (boat landing zone). I could throw a baseball from the BLZ to the parking lot, but there's no bridge across, so we take a 5-minute bus ride through the shopping district. Also interesting about the Center...it could be unprecedented in HOPE history as a clinic site...it's air conditioned!!! After the opening ceremony, the AF Band performed outdoors, and the crowd got loose when to Bob Marley songs. The educators, vets and Seabees also began work on Tuesday. The were no big lines for the training like in the Dominican Republic (yet) but the students were very receptive. Yesterday, several Hopies attended the GIK turnover ceremony, met many people from local humanitarian organizations, and stayed on shore to work in the clinic. We enjoyed a leisurely cruise back to the Comfort on the good ship Coral Ark. I stayed aboard Comfort today. As I type this, I can hear the mess hall filling up, so the first group must be back from shore. Have a good weekend everyone!

--Tom