"Partner Ship" Kunisaki

The “Partnership” in Pacific Partnership 2010 refers to many kinds including national ones with Australia, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Most visibly prominent among these at the moment is the partnership with Japan, because the JDS Kunisaki, a large ship of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force, has been positioned right next to the USNS Mercy, at anchor or underway.

Also Japan is currently providing the most support of any of the partner nations. Their medical team includes more than 30 professional providers who work side by side with the Navy and Project HOPE and other Non-Government Organizations (NGOs).

One strong Japanese NGO for this kind of medical mission is HuMA, Humanitarian Medical Assistance, directed by Norifumi Ninomiya, M.D., Professor at the Nippon Medical School. The members of HuMA are among the many friendly Japanese people who welcomed us aboard the JDS Kunisaki for a gala evening celebration of our mission. Three of their members whom we have repeatedly encountered on land while working on our joint mission are pictured here at the party along with Faye Pyles, who is retired Navy captain, nurse, and HOPE volunteer helping to direct our group.


The party was a gala event with sushi brought in from Japan. It was held in the hangar area of the ship, transformed by vertical bands of red and white fabric blanketing the walls as well as by ceremonial sword fighting. Decorative fans for all the guests were eagerly welcomed to help with the oppressive humidity.


Tonight there will be another party on the Kunasaki, this time at the pier in Sihanoukville as shown here. The Japanese hosts will be serving sake to the guests, including seven people from Project HOPE. Each volunteer has the opportunity to attend one major party, and the Kunasaki has become the most favored spot—at least for today.

Thanks for reading - Mary Hamill, Ph.D.,Project HOPE PAO

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Dr. Betsy Trefts Brings Health and Smiles to her Young Patients

On the Pediatric Ward on the USNS Mercy many children and adolescents are treated for many different diseases.

Often it is Project HOPE volunteer Dr. Betsy Trefts, who is doing the treating. Betsy is both a pediatrician and a hospitalist and brings to the ship her skill sets from both specialties. She also brings much good cheer to her patients.

Here she is seen examining the eyes of a Vietnamese boy lucky enough to be getting help while still a pre-schooler.





By contrast, adolescents who find their way to Betsy’s care have typically struggled for several years. Pictured here on the Ward with his mother is such a 17-year-old, namely Vansi Huyng, who had long endured the combined problems of a cleft palate and a heart murmur. He was helped by Betsy and also by Mercy Navy surgeons, HOPE student nurse Abigail Chua and HOPE nurses Peggy Goebel and Peggy Holt, among others.

Thanks for reading - Mary Hamill, Ph.D.,Project HOPE PAO

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Long-time Volunteer Continues Work in Vietnam

Earl Rogers says he began volunteering with Project HOPE in 1972 because he felt “a need to give back something,” having been fortunate enough to have the kind assistance of many people in his own life. Those who work with Earl on the USNS Mercy say that he is giving back in spades.

Earl is working as Pharmacist and also as mentor/sponsor/teacher to two advanced pharmacy students from Shenandoah University thanks to a program he helped facilitate in concert with Dean Alan McKay there and with Matt Peterson at Project HOPE. His students, Kristina Angelone and Renee Summerson, bring a splendid combination of professionalism and enthusiasm; and Earl finds that their perspectives enrich the humanitarian efforts onboard this military hospital ship.

Earl is happy to have young students learning in different cultures, having long prized such opportunities in his own development.

Initially he responded to a newspaper advertisement for serving with Project HOPE and became a part of the original mission to Brazil. As part of the exploration, he met his wife Lois Hofstra, who was serving as translator. More recently he has been a volunteer with Project HOPE in a range of places: Russia, Lithuania, and the Ukraine in 1992; the JFK Memorial Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, in 2008; and in Ghana aboard the USS Nashville in 2009. He has helped to support effective pharmacies in developing countries through a number of Subject Matter Expert Exchanges (known as SMEEs).

During the current mission Earl has worked many days in the pharmacy onboard ship and many in the clinics set up in Binh Dinh province in Vietnam. In one picture here he is seen at the Phouc Hoa clinic using a high-tech system for prescribing and filling and labeling-in-translation the medications needed for each person; patients’ needs are recorded and tracked as they move from the room with the intake personnel, to the room with the diagnosing/treating doctors, to the room with the dispensing pharmacists.

Among the hundreds of families he saw was this set of grandmother, mother, and twin girls, who had minor treatable ailments of the stomach and the skin. (Top photo)

Thanks for reading - Mary Hamill, Ph.D., Project HOPE PAO

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Donations of Medical Equipment Continue

Project HOPE presented a donation of durable medical equipment to the Binh Dinh General Hospital.

This is one of Vietnam’s largest hospitals, serving not only the city of Quy Nohn but the entire province of Binh Dinh and beyond—more than a million people. At the time of the visit approximately one thousand outpatients were being treated. There are many feeder clinics in the Hospital’s catchment area, and one of the nearest is Quang Tung Ward Clinic, to which Project HOPE made last week a coordinated major contribution of furnishings and equipment.

At the General Hospital the Intensive Care Unit was the specific site where the equipment was presented by Marshall Cusic, MD(retired Rear Admiral) and Faye Pyles PNP (retired US Navy Captain), director and operational director respectively for the Project HOPE team currently on the USNS Mercy. Receiving the equipment with thanks were Dr. Nguyin Hoang Minh, Vice-director of the Hospital and Dr. Nguyen Phan Auh Ngoc, Vice-director of the ICU.

The donation consisted of two types of items: 1. Pulse oximeters, for measuring heart rate and oxygen level; and 2. Syringe pump devices, for delivering controlled small quantities of fluids or medications such as pain-killers to adults or children. The equipment incorporated upgrades in the level of technology beyond the items the ICU previously used for these purposes.

The Project HOPE volunteers met also with members of the Pediatrics Division, namely Dr. Phan Van Dung, Vice-director and Dr. B.S.Minh, GPD. They explained the history of the unit, which has grown from a small entity and has had its own building since 1977. The focus was on the particulars of care for some of the children’s illnesses seen at our MEDCAPS (Medical Civic Assistance Projects) and onboard the Mercy, e.g., deafness and cardiac conditions.

The session ended with all present installing batteries in the new pulse oximeters to get them operational so we could test them on ourselves. We enjoyed measuring our individual resting pulses while speculating on reasons for the differences, cultural and otherwise. Throughout we were ably assisted by Ms. Nguyen Phuong Hoa from Hanoi and our young student translator from Hue University, Khuong Duy.

Thanks for reading - Mary Hamill, Project HOPE PAO

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From Shore to Ship, Volunteers Continue to Treat Patients

Each day of our mission in Vietnam, health care providers travelled by boat and by van to clinic sites they had established throughout the greater Quy Nhon region. During the eleven days of work they treated 19,600 patients for a wide range of ailments. Some of those whose needs were most compelling were then brought on board the ship for surgery.

Serving last week at one of these sites known as Medical Civil Assistance Programs was Project HOPE volunteer pediatrician Dr. John R. Neale, who has treated as many as 60 patients in a single day here. One local man came in with his somewhat apprehensive seven-year-old daughter named Kieu Trang and described her case by saying at the outset that it was time for her to have surgery. She had an obvious left-sided mandibular mass present since birth and, according to her father, had initially had relatively simple surgery at the Quy Nhon General Hospital in 2005. Now she was old enough for more. So Trang was next seen by the Mercy’s dental unit and came to the pediatric ward on the ship for a CAT scan and treatment under the care of HOPE volunteer hospitalist Dr. Betsy Treft among others. Once the tumor was excised and the pathologist had declared it non-malignant, Trang was given a bone graft and substantial post-operative care.

Trang’s grateful father was with her throughout, because patients who come on board during humanitarian missions are encouraged to bring a family member. The two slept in adjacent “racks” (beds). Trang’s father, like her mother, earns his living as a rice farmer, and they have an older son living at home as well. While the father and daughter were on the pediatric ward, they were assisted regularly by HOPE volunteer nursing student Kimberley Fong. She says that one day Trang is likely to be a doctor or a nurse. During Trang’s stay on the ward she shadowed Kimberley, using her own borrowed stethoscope to listen to the heart beat of any person or stuffed animal that would comply.

Trang and her father were the last to dissembark from the USNS Mercy before the ship’s departure from Vietnam. Now minus the disfiguring tumor, she seemed relieved to be heading back to shore wearing a bright orange striped sun hat that helped minimize the still-visible closed incision from the surgery.

Thanks for reading - Mary Hamill, Project HOPE PAO

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Shenandoah University Pharmacy Students Blog From Vietnam

First time Project HOPE volunteers Kristina Angelone, a Doctor of Pharmacy student, and Renee Summerson, a fourth-year pharmacy student, both from Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia are blogging about their memorable experiences in Vietnam. Both students are working onboard the USNS Mercy and ashore, providing pharmacy support for the medical care and health education mission.

Read Their Blog

Cooperation Key to Successful Care

June 8 onboard USNS Mercy was a day distinguished by the visits of dignitaries, especially Admiral Robert F. Willard and Admiral Prucek-Koler, both here to work with our Commodore Lisa Franchetti.

Volunteers with Project HOPE were encouraged to talk with our guests as they toured the ship. The highlight was the excitement throughout the Pediatrics Ward when Admiral Willard and Commodore Franchetti and Admiral Willard’s wife came through to talk and play with the youngest of our patients. Commander of the United States Pacific Council and responsible for half of the military of the USA, Admiral Willard showed a keen interest in everybody, in every baby. Commodore Franchetti seemed to enjoy blowing Project HOPE bubbles for the babies as well.

HOPE volunteer nurse Peggy Goebel handed over to the Admiral a baby boy with a splinted arm who was in her charge, assisted by Catherine Chung, Will Flores and Kim Fong, nursing students with Project HOPE from the University of San Diego program. The Project HOPE volunteers participating included nurses Peggy Holt and Fran Bauer as well.

During the visit to the Pediatrics Ward, Admiral Willard gave each staff member and HOPE volunteer one of his limited-edition unique personal commemorative coins, received by them as a special honor and a way of remembering what they surely would not forget anyway. Peggy says, “It was an honor and a pleasure to shake the hand of a four-star admiral and to hand him and his wife the two post-operative babies I was working with on Pediatrics.”

One of the babies, Le, reached up and tweaked the stars on the shoulder of the Admiral. When Peggy said, “He wants to have your stars,” the Admiral replied, “One day maybe he will.” Mrs. Willard seemed to hate to leave.

The accompanying pictures were taken by Photographer MC Jackson, Navy, of the Public Affairs Office who has been working with me onshore at the medical clinics.

Thanks for reading - Mary Hamill, Project HOPE PAO

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HOPE Volunteers Care For Toddler Onboard USNS Mercy

Some of the children of the greater Quy Nhon region of Vietnam have the good fortune to benefit from surgery onboard the USNS Mercy during its Pacific Partnership 2010 mission. Among the first to be helped was the cheerful two-year-old Phuong Hoang, who had a unilateral cleft palate fistula in need of repair. She was accompanied not only by her grandmother but also by her enthusiastic dad, and seemingly ever-present translator always wearing his yellow shirt.

Preparing her for surgery by—among other things-- blowing bubbles for relaxation was Abigail Chua, a Project HOPE volunteer nursing student from University of San Diego, California.
Four-time Project HOPE volunteer nurse Peggy Walsh Goebel, was catching the bubbles and overseeing the young child's nursing care.

When her post-operative care was completed, Phuong Hoang was taken back to land in one of Mercy’s Bandaid boats. Now at four days post-surgery, her father reports she is doing very well. He was especially pleased that the doctors put tubes in her ears so that she could hear better. As a result she now speaks more clearly too and when she calls him dad, he says, it really sounds like dad.


Thanks for reading - Mary Hamill

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Medical Equipment Donation to Help 24,000 in Vietnam

The Quang Tung Ward Clinic, in Quy Nohn City, Vietnam, freshly renovated and attractively painted is the second of four engineering civic action programs to be completed by engineers from Australia, the U.S., and Vietnam as part of Pacific Partnership 2010. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the clinic on Friday June 4, 2010 attended by United States Ambassador, Michael W. Michalak, Commanding Officer Pacific Partnership 2010, Captain Lisa Franchetti, the Vietnam Vice Minister Of Health, Trinh Quan Huan and members of the local community. Dr. Marshall Cusic, Project HOPE's Medical Director also attended the event.

The clinic represents the continuing relationship between Project HOPE, the Pacific Partnership 2010, and the country of Vietnam. With the completion of the renovation Project HOPE donated over $19,000 dollars worth of medical supplies and durable medical equipment requested by the Quang Tung Ward Clinic and the Binh Dinh Provincial Hospital to help stock this facility. This equipment included hospital beds, surgical equipment, an acupuncture device and a variety of equipment used in the assessment and treatment of patients and will be used to help provide care to over 24,000 residents of this area.

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Project HOPE Nurses Sharing Educational Experiences In Vietnam

A nurse is a nurse is a nurse. Before you stop at this sentence please continue to read. Historically this is a phrase that has been used for decades regarding nurses in a variety of settings. On June 3 and 4, ten members of the Project HOPE team had the honor to consider this statement in another light aboard the USNS Mercy. The Vietnam PEPFAR Team - Presidents Emergency Plan for Aids Relief - whose primary goal is to improve access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment in low-resource settings was on the Mercy this week.

The PEPFAR team was comprised of Sr. Col. Dr. Do Van Binh, Head of the Nursing Department, Military Medical Academy in Hanoi, Captain Dr. Nguyen Quang Chien , a labotorian officer in the Blood Transfusion and Hematology Dept at the Military Hospital 103 in Hanoi, LTC Le Vi Phuong, the Head Nurse of Military Hospital 175 in Ho Chi Minh City, LTC Dr. Nguyen Van Vinh, the team leader of Medical Preventive Team of Military Region 9 in Cantho, and Col Dr. Huynh Duc Hien, the Deputy Chief of the Lab Dept at Military Hospital in Danang. They were accompanied by Dr Phung Mai, the Care and Treatment Program Officer for the Department of Defense (DoD) PEPFAR in Vietnam and Dr Nguyen Cuong , the Prevention Program Officer for the DoD PEPFAR in Vietnam. Dr Mai and Dr Cuong served as our linguists during this interaction. Members of the Project HOPE nurses panel were faculty at University of San Diego and Santa Rosa Junior College School of Nursing, and a registered nurse with a legal background who shared insights into the U.S. nursing educational system. We had the rare opportunity to speak and share ideas with the above Vietnamese representatives of major educational and hospital systems.

We sat in the bottommost level of the USNS Mercy, as the ship rocked gently back and forth. We spoke mainly to each other through two very gifted linguists. Both of these facts seemed to make this a very uncommon situation for all of us. We shared what were considered the basic competencies all programs of nursing should address. As a group we spoke of concerns for the need to identify and then maintain standards of basic nursing care. To a person those essential components of critical thinking in a clinical setting, professional ethics, patient safety and infection control were considered a baseline of all educational programs for nurses. The U.S. design of establishing standardization of testing and licensure was shared as well. Our discussions became energized as we realized the commonality of our goals and concerns. It was readily apparent that we had traveled halfway around the world to find our commonalities outweighed our differences. Wherever we are and whatever language we speak, the language of nursing remains the same.

By Project HOPE volunteer nurse Faye Pyles, who is serving as HOPE's Chief Nursing Officer and Operations Officer aboard the USNS Mercy.

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Volunteers Hard at Work

Project HOPE volunteers are hard at work aboard the USNS Mercy and ashore in Vietnam. Surgeries have begun onboard and medical clinics on land are up and running smoothly. Teaching is also taking place both on ship and ashore as Pacific Partnership 2010 gets into full swing.

For More:

Project HOPE and Shenandoah University pharmacy student, Renee Summerson, blogs about her first day working at a medical clinic in Vietnam. RX Project HOPE

and

Retired lawyer turned nurse, Project HOPE volunteer, Terry Tucker, from Pasadena, California blogs about her experiences aboard the USNS Mercy. Terry's Service Project HOPE

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Volunteers Board USNS Mercy to Begin Work

June 1, 2010

We were eager to get off the land and onto the ship; but our embarkation was delayed because the Vietnamese government was still processing our paperwork. At midday, Commodore Freschetti came from the USNS Mercy to our beach-front hotel in Quy Bunh and said we would each have our individual coupons for passage within the hour. These acted as visas to enable us to get through the checkpoints at the pier and to load ourselves and our gear onto small boats (nicknamed Band-Aids) for their support role to our enormous esteemed hospital ship Mercy.

We motored out toward the imposing white shape til first its red cross and then its life boats came clearly into view. Next we pulled alongside the Mercy and found ourselves climbing at last up the ramp and into an opening in the side of the ship, hoisting our bags up, fire-bucket-brigade style.

On board we went through orientation and said goodbyes to Project HOPE’s Frederick Gerber and to Tony Burchard and his daughter Barbara Ann, who had toured the ship and gifted ribbons and headbands in the pediatric ward. In the evening we formally met with Faye Pyles, HOPE’s volunteer Chief Nursing Officer and Operations Officer, and Marshall Cusic, HOPE’s volunteer Medical Director, and were officially welcomed onboard ship by the Commodore. The welcome was in a mess hall briefing that included more than 900 other workers all focused on one mission: strengthening the health care of the Vietnamese people in sustainable ways.

Work begins tomorrow.

Thanks for reading - Mary Hamill

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Meet the Project HOPE Volunteer Team for Vietnam and Cambodia

25 Project HOPE volunteers are currently participating in the U.S. Navy's Pacific Partnership 2010 mission. This first rotation of volunteers will work onboard the USNS Mercy and ashore in Vietnam and Cambodia providing health care and health education.

Kristina Angelone is currently enrolled in a Doctor of Pharmacy program at Shenandoah University, Winchester, Virginia. On her first mission with Project HOPE, Kristina will be volunteering in the Pharmacy Department aboard the USNS Mercy.



Fran Bauer is a first-time Project HOPE volunteer who works as a RN at a small, rural hospital in Apalachicola, Florida. At one-time an Air Traffic Controller, Fran decided to become a nurse so that she would have the skills necessary to respond to natural disasters and health crises around the world.


Abigail Chua is currently earning her Master of Science in Nursing from University of San Diego. She is a first-time HOPE volunteer.




Catherine Chung is currently obtaining her Master of Science in Nursing from University of San Diego, California. She is a first-time HOPE volunteer.





Dr. Marshall Cusic, a pediatrician from Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin, brings 37 years of civilian and U.S. Navy medical experience to his second mission as a HOPE volunteer. Before volunteering for HOPE, he served on the USNS Mercy during the 2005 Tsunami mission and follow-up care missions to South East Asia. Dr. Cusic specializes in pediatric allergy-immunology with experience in tropical infectious diseases. He is serving as the HOPE Medical Director in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Cherri Dobson is serving on her third volunteer mission for Project HOPE. A critical care nurse with over 26 years experience, Cherri currently works in NICU at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California. She also serves as a Critical Care Transport RN for American Medical Response in San Leandro. During Pacific Partnership 2010, Cherri will be volunteering as a pediatric RN.


Will Flores is currently enrolled in a Masters of Science in Nursing program at The University of San Diego in California. The first-time Project HOPE volunteer will be using his nursing skills onboard the USNS Mercy.


Kimberly Fong is currently enrolled in a Masters of Science in Nursing program at The University of San Diego, in California. She is a first-time HOPE volunteer.

Dawn Gaynor is a nurse from Denver Colorado with a career spanning more than 25 years. She has worked as an OR nurse, dealt with psychiatric patients, and more recently cosmetic surgery. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Holistic Nutrition and a Doctor of Naturopathy. The first-time Project HOPE volunteer is working as an OR Nurse onboard the USNS Mercy.



Peggy Goebel is a maternal child health care nurse with many years of nursing and teaching experience. She is a former Peace Corps volunteer with international disaster relief experience. She currently teaches nursing at Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa, California. A four-time Project HOPE volunteer, Peggy says, “I love working with Project HOPE and look forward to meeting the new Project HOPE volunteers and working together again with U.S. Navy on the USNS Mercy and the people of Vietnam and Cambodia.” Peggy is volunteering as a Pediatric Triage Nurse during the mission.

Mary Oestereicher Hamill, Ph.D., is an award-winning photojournalist and videographer. While this is her second medical mission to Vietnam, it is first as a Project HOPE volunteer. Mary currently works at Brandeis University as the Resident Artist/Scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center. On the USNS Mercy, she is serving as Public Affairs Officer for Project HOPE.



Margaret Holt, a nurse from South Carolina, is a two-time Project HOPE volunteer. Peggy has extensive experience in obstetrics, labor and delivery and c-section recovery. On the USNS Comfort, Peggy is working on the medical/surgical staff. On the USNS Mercy, Peggy is working as an operation room nurse.

Jackie Iseri is currently enrolled in a Masters of Science in Nursing program at The University of San Diego, in California. She is a first-time HOPE volunteer.

Mary Levitz , from Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake, New York has over 33 years experience as a Family Nurse Practitioner and Nurse. The first-time Project HOPE volunteer is working as a Family Nurse Practitioner onboard the USNS Comfort.




Alan McNichols is currently enrolled in a Masters of Science in Nursing program at The University of San Diego in California. The first-time Project HOPE volunteer will be using his nursing skills onboard the USNS Mercy.





Dr. John Neale is a first-time Project HOPE volunteer serving as a pediatrician onboard the USNS Mercy. This is his second medical mission to Vietnam. He also served aboard the hospital ship in response to the Indonesia tsunami in 2006 as triage officer. Throughout his professional life, Dr. Neale has worked in California emergency rooms, the most recent being El Camino Hospital, Mountain View Hospital and Stanford University.


Faye Pyles, a pediatric nurse practitioner from Norfolk with more than 30 years experience, is on her fourth mission with Project HOPE including a volunteer mission aboard the USNS Mercy in Southeast Asia in 2008. Faye is retired after 25 years from the Navy where she served in a variety of roles in both the U.S. and overseas. She is volunteering as Chief Nursing Officer and Operations Officer during the USNS Mercy.


Earl Rogers, a pharmacist from Richmond, Virginia is a long-time Project HOPE volunteer who will be using his pharmacy skills to treat patients and teach and mentor pharmacy students in Vietnam and Cambodia. Earl first served aboard the SS HOPE in 1972 in Brazil and has since volunteered in Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Ghana to name a few.


Diane Speranza, a veteran volunteer is serving on her 6th mission with Project HOPE. Diane is a nurse at Helen Ellis Hospital in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and also serves as the Chief Nurse for the Florida L 3 Disaster Medical Assistance Team. She is also a member at large for the Project HOPE Alumni Association. On her second mission to Vietnam as a HOPE volunteer, Diane she is working in the Casualty Receiving department onboard the USNS Mercy. “Each mission is unique in its own way,” she says. “The one thing that does not change is the wonderful patients and families that you meet and the friends that you make.”

Chelsea Spindel has worked in the pediatric intensive care unit of Massachusetts General for the last 3 years, working with critically ill children and their families. The first-time Project HOPE volunteer is working as a Pediatric Nurse onboard the USNS Mercy.

Renee Summerson is a fourth-year pharmacy student from Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia. She is a first time Project HOPE volunteer.





Janna Tamminga from Beloit, Wisconsin works as a physical therapist for the School District of Beloit Turner Inman Parkway. The first time HOPE volunteer will be using her physical therapy skills aboard the USNS Mercy.




Kathy Templin is a nurse with 30 years of critical care experience followed by 10 years as an adult nurse practitioner who is now teaching at University of San Diego. She is accompanying six nursing students on her first mission with Project HOPE on the USNS Mercy to provide health care in Vietnam and Cambodia.



Dr. Elizabeth Trefts, a pediatrician from Stillwater, Maine with more than 18-years experience is a first-time Project HOPE volunteer.



Terry Tucker is a nurse from Pasadena, California. She formerly worked at James A. Haley Hospital in Tampa, Florida where she provided care for veterans and active duty combat soldiers who have suffered spinal cord injuries. The first-time HOPE volunteer is serving as a Medical Surgical Nurse aboard the USNS Mercy.

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