Accomplishments Shared

The Project HOPE group pictured here disembarked from the USNS Mercy late last week with both a strong sense of pride about having delivered much-needed services and a stronger sense of humility about our place on this earth.

In twelve days of intense orchestrated work alongside the Cambodians, PP-10 provided medical care onshore to more than 29,000 patients via Medical Civic Assistance Projects that ranged as far as 300 miles inland. In addition the hospital ship saw 536 patients who came by boat for medical treatment, including 286 surgeries. In addition to the medical work, Seabees provided three water wells and two water towers; and community service volunteers gave 1700 hours of service at eleven different schools and orphanages.

Radio waves in San Diego, California, and beyond carried live the current news and accomplishments of the Cambodian mission as the USNS Mercy sailed from Sihanoukville, Cambodia, toward Singapore where a new group of Project HOPE volunteers will embark. Taking part in the radio broadcast were (from left to right): Lt. Colonel Helen Murphy (Australian Defense Force), Dr. Marshall Cusic (Project HOPE,s volunteer Medical Director and a Retired Rear Admiral U.S. Navy), Lt. Commander Marc Calero (Public Affairs Officer of PP-10), and Commodore Lisa Franchetti (Commander of PP-10).

Dr. Cusic emphasized the importance of the process of cooperation between the Navy and the NGO’s in building capacity for development in our host nations and in preparing to respond to disasters. He spoke from personal experience of the deep history and commitment of Project HOPE in this endeavor for more than 50 years and especially since the 2005 tsunami. The assembled group explained to their radio audience what has been accomplished in Cambodia in particular.



A new team of 20 Project HOPE volunteers is currently sailing to Indonesia to continue another month-long mission of health care and health education. Check back for more stories.

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

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Cambodia Mission Wraps Up

USNS Mercy is one of the largest hospitals in the world, and today it is nearly empty of patients. Project HOPE volunteers and others are preparing the few remaining patients for discharge this morning, because at 3 pm the civil service mariners plan to be pulling up anchor and getting underway for Singapore.

Chelsea Spindel, RN, is at work in an ICU, one of five such units with a total of 99 beds. One of them is an Isolation Unit for patients with diseases that could be spread by coughing, but it is not in use at the moment. The single remaining person in the general ICU here is a Cambodian man resting behind the privacy screen while watched over by his wife and daughter. Another patient who just left the unit was a woman who had been the victim of a serious car accident. Chelsea, whose nursing specialty is Pediatric ICU, will be returning soon to her position at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Mary Levitz, Family Nurse Practitioner, has now finished providing care to hundreds of Vietnamese and Cambodian patients on and off the ship. She will be going home to Tupper Lake, NY, to continue her regular clinic work with her American patients. She is seen here on an inpatient ward that has been cleared and secured as part of the day’s preparations. This is one of the fifteen inpatient wards on the Mercy that have a total of 900 beds. Fresh with clean sheets and blankets, the beds will soon be lowered for a new influx of patients after Singapore.

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

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HOPE in Remote Rural Cambodia

Many Cambodians who live in some of the remote rural areas far inland have just had a special opportunity to get Pacific-Partnership-style medical care. The clinic at Pich Mony Tek Al Ak and the clinic at Veal Ang Popel were among the sites designated for Medical Civic Assistance Projects (MedCAPS); the teams working at these sites included three Project HOPE volunteers: Betsy Trefts, M.D., Earl Rogers, Pharmacist, and Kristina Angelone, Pharmacy student from Shenandoah University. They are pictured here with the helicopter that flew them from the USNS Mercy, along with their colleagues from the Navy and NGOs and partner nations.

The MedCAP called for seven days of rustic living at camps that were formerly used by United Nations Peace Keeping staff. Kristina found the experience to be “an excellent example of people working together with a constant goal of performing as a team.”

At the MedCAP a dramatic moment took place while patients waited in line: an eleven-year-old boy among them vomited and fell to the ground and was unresponsive. A nurse who saw the event immediately gestured to HOPE's Dr. Trefts to examine him. She found that he was dehydrated and thought he might be having a conversion reaction. Immediately a corpsman put in an IV line for rehydration. At the same time an aide summoned the hysterical mother to come over and speak to her son, and then he opened his eyes. A translator stepped in to get background information and to explain to the family what actions the medical personnel were taking. When Betsy had determined that the boy probably had a urinary tract infection among other things, a dentist provided intramuscular antibiotics. The family was asked to have the child seen at a hospital, but because they had no money it was agreed that he could instead come back to the clinic the next morning. When the sun next rose, the family showed up on their moped with the boy feeling better.

A moped was also the standard mode of transportation for any woman in labor, typically with husband and grandmother onboard as well. After just a few hours at the clinic for the final stages of labor and delivery (in silence), the enlarged family would get back on its moped and drive home with the new baby in its mother’s arms.

When asked about the kinds of illnesses they were chiefly treating, the team from Project HOPE cited a large number of tuberculosis cases, many enlarged spleens, many children with what was probably malaria, possibly visceral leishmaniasis or schistosomiasis, plus a Pott’s puffy tumor.

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

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NGOs Work Together to Provide Care

One of the official primary goals of Pacific Partnership 2010 is to carry out work that will strengthen “regional relationships with host and partner nations in Southeast Asia.” In practice this goal is addressed through an extraordinary web of relationships among the many individual organizations represented within this Pacific Fleet mission. Besides all the military services, the State Department, USAID, US Public Health Service, and Defense Logistics Agency, the Partnership includes seventeen separate Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), twelve of them onboard the USNS Mercy or the JDS Kunaski during the Cambodia portion. These are: East Meets West Foundation, Humanitarian Medical Assistance, International Relief Team (IRT), Latter-day Saint Charities (LDS), Operation Civic Force, Peace Winds America, Project HOPE, Operation Smile, and University of California at San Diego Pre-Dental Society (UCSD), UNIES, Vets Without Borders, and World Vets. Cooperation among the many groups is, of course, implied and it is also explicitly specified in a major mission task, namely to “Plan Humanitarian Civic Assistance activities to be mutually supporting across all lines of operation.”

On a day-to-day basis, the cooperation among people from the different NGO’s onboard is both formal and informal. On a typical day many volunteers are out in the field working side by side and have somewhat limited access to the central information on the ship. Many NGO’s find a need to assemble all the volunteers each evening for sharing information after a long hot day’s work.

A major way of formally strengthening communication is the meeting of NGO team leaders held each morning in the Officers’ Lounge. Pictured here from Friday’s meeting are: Irv Silverstein and Sammy Boho of UCSD; Dr. Marshall Cusic of Project HOPE; Charla Nielsen of LDS; Faye Pyles of Project HOPE; and Therese Rymer of IRT. The meeting ranged over topics such as the policy against fraternization and the feasibility of sharing among NGO’s the briefs which Faye Pyles writes about daily details for volunteers.

Each day’s NGO leader meeting follows upon the ship’s Medical Treatment Facility meeting, where one person represents the NGO group to learn of the critical issues of the day. The structure for including the NGO’s in this fashion emerged on this current mission in response to a felt need for cooperation as the number of NGO volunteers has grown (from 150 in 2008 to 580 in 2010). Instrumental in the structural development were both Captain Jeffrey W. Paulson, Medical Contingent Commander, and Project HOPE's Medical Director, Dr. Marshall Cusic, who says, “The challenge is the interagency interaction.” Meeting together is one step toward that goal, along with serving the host nation patients together.

The Cambodian mother shown here brought her son yesterday to the MedCAP (Medical Civil Action Project) at Sihanoukville Hospital, where the Officer in Charge was Albert Nielsen, leader of the LDS contingent of volunteers. Two HOPE volunteers, both a pediatrician and nursing student Patrick McNichols, saw the boy from the University of San Diego.

One moment of multifaceted cooperation is presented in the photograph of patients, health care providers, and translators in a MedCap clinic in a schoolroom in Quy Nohn, Vietnam.

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

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Students Teach Malaria Prevention

As 1000 people onboard the USNS Mercy for Pacific Partnership 2010 continue their work on behalf of the people of Vietnam and Cambodia, malaria is one major consideration and a frequent topic of conversation. Everybody has been advised to use appropriate prophylaxis, such as with Doxycycline or Malarone, but questions remain.

The ship presented a formal session on malaria by Project HOPE volunteers for any Mercy personnel who wished to attend. “Nursing students from University of San Diego and pharmacy students from Shenandoah University will discuss prevention, recognition and treatment of Malaria,” the notice read.


The well-prepared students gave a practical and professional presentation to a large audience consisting largely of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals. The students’ answers to the substantial questioning at the end were especially well regarded. After being congratulated by a number of people including the ship’s chaplain, the students asked their faculty members to identify themselves and come forward for a picture.

The presenters from Shenandoah University (who won a competition at their University for this opportunity) were Kristina Angelone and Renee Summerson, mentored by Earl Rogers, Pharmacist. The presenters from University of San Diego were Abigail Chua, Catherine Chung, Will Flores, Kimberly Fong, Jacqueline Iseri and Patrick McNichols, precepted by faculty members Kathleen Templin, RN and by Peggy Holt, RN. Clearly the students are benefiting from the clinical and educational opportunities at the same time as the hospital ship is benefiting from their services. Together we are improving our preparedness to give humanitarian and civic assistance.

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

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MEDICAL CARE TO KAMPOT VIA HELICOPTER

Project HOPE volunteer Renee Summerson says what she liked best in her work on the Pacific Partnership Cambodia mission was “seeing the people and being able to help them.” Renee is referring not only to the people in the port city of Sihanoukville but also to those in remote Kampot Province.

She is now back onboard USNS Mercy after a five day MedCAP(Medical Civic Assistance Project) which provided medical care to the rural people who live near the Ang Sophy School. The expedition began and ended with a 45-minute helicopter trip along the Cambodian coast. When the helicopter first landed in a clearing in front of the school, Renee and the doctors and nurses and other care providers unloaded their gear and set themselves up in tent cots so that they would be able to sleep without concern about mosquitoes.

Renee is a pharmacy student at Shenandoah University who worked in Kampot with one pharmacist and one other pharmacy technician to fill 5,809 prescriptions, more than 2,000 of them on the last complete day at the site. Renee found that they saw more adults than children, many of them with skin infections, many requiring antibiotics. A large number of dental extractions were carried out as well.

Among the patients were several monks from the adjacent Buddhist temple and pagoda and meditation caves. When Renee was invited to go inside the caves, she saw golden statues and unique rock formations for which the monks had specific names. She was happy to have extra translation services through a member of the Peace Corps teaching at the local school.

Read More about Renee's adventure on the RX Project HOPE Blog

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

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HOPE Volunteers Help Mother with Young Twins

Preparing to leave the USNS Mercy today is a mother with young twins who remains the focus of substantial help from several Project HOPE volunteers. Both of her five-year-old boys are ill and malnourished, living on her breast milk; she does not have the means to provide them either solid food or a set of clothes.

To get to the Sihanoukville Provincial Hospital for the Medical Civic Assistance Project (MedCAP), the three journeyed from the remote Cambodian countyryside more than one hour by bus. The stronger twin came to the pediatrician with such a large oozing abscess on his forehead that he needed to be brought to the ship for surgery, now successfully completed. His twin brother, the tinier Voeng, was the most anemic child ever seen by the doctor. He was found to have blood cells whose shape suggests very serious illness. For diagnosis and treatment, he needs further lab tests than the ship can provide; but the family lacks the money to obtain these. Unfortunately the family also lacks access to any refrigerator and so cannot go home with the preferred antibiotic; the mother is being taught to mix an alternative powdered one instead.

The family will be discharged in somewhat improved health and spirits; they will have a helpful set of paperwork and a precise referral to a hospital near their village. Clearly more is needed, and so a set of connections has been made with social service agencies by way of USNS Mercy Navy Chaplain Horne. While the Mercy has been at anchor in the port of Sihanoukville, he and the other chaplains have overseen substantial community service work by Project HOPE volunteers and others; and the chaplains have also facilitated charitable donations of goods to groups that care for the needy, including those with a profile like this family. Especially because his family has no money, no address, and no phone, getting Voeng the help he needs will be a great challenge.

Pictured here is the family among many hard-working Project HOPE volunteers on the Pediatric Ward. The nurses and University of SanDiego nursing students here are: Fran Bauer, Peggy Goebel, Kimberly Fong (student), Kathy Templin, Will Flores (student), Peggy Holt, and Jacqueline Iseri (student).

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

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Volunteers at Work in Cambodia

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (June 21, 2010) A Project HOPEvolunteer looks on as a girl blows bubbles at Ohtres Chas Primary School during a community service event. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matthew Jacks.


SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (June 20, 2010) Cambodian children play games with Sailors and Project HOPE volunteers during a community service event at the Enfants du Cambodge orphanage. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jon Husman.



SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (June 20, 2010) The USNS Mercy anchored off the coast of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jon Husman.


SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (June 16, 2010) HOPE volunteer Catherine Chung checks the blood pressure of a Cambodian patient. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eddie Harrison.

Volunteers Use High Tech PDAs in Humanitarian Effort

The first thing a visitor sees at a typical MedCAP (Medical Civic Assistance Project) site in Vietnam or Cambodia is the iron gate of the building complex swung wide open, with hundreds of local people moving in and out. Inside the walled courtyard is a crowd roving among security personnel, and then a line of people waiting for their turn at one of the tables with a smiling intake staff person holding a high tech device. That would be the PDA for the CHIME system: it is the symbol and the reality of step one in a patient’s long-awaited day of accessing health care providers from the Pacific Partnership 2010. The automated system provides patient tracking at triage, assessment, diagnosis and treatment stages.

Initially, basic information is collected; and the patient is given a wristband with a unique bar code. At subsequent steps, the barcode is swiped so any data can be read and used. And after the patient is seen, new data gets entered. For example, a nurse weighs the patient and enters the weight on their handheld PDA. When the patient reaches the doctor’s office, the data gathered so far are used to help with the diagnosis and treatment plan, each of which is also entered.

Any medications prescribed are entered as well; and, in the best case, these can be waiting at the pharmacy area all ready with translated labels. The aura of the highly visible technology at each step seems to work a little magic of its own as it heightens the credibility of the service providers.

CHIME is among the newer of the many acronyms that pervade life on a Navy ship: Civil and Humanitarian Information Management—Expeditionary. At the MedCAP site the central piece of the technology is an In-field Server that collects data from the separate units: Triage, Primary Care, Dental, Optometry, Physical Therapy, Surgery, and Radiology. Pacific Partnership 2010 is a beta test site for the CHIME system, which was previously tried by NGOs in Haiti, by the American Red Cross at Hurricane Katrina, and by Continuing Promise 2009 among others.

From a managerial perspective, the system standardizes data collection and sharing in a paperless way. Beyond that, it also makes possible the consolidation of the information in “real time” for planning purposes locally or at a distance at a higher level in the command. The information gathered can be used for evaluation and planning, duly combined with qualitative and financial and other types of data. CHIME assists with one set of considerations about the impact of the mission on the people of the region.

When a tired doctor makes it back to the mess hall of the USNS Mercy at the end of a long day at the MedCAP and talks about the pros and cons of having seen 110 patients, the facts are a matter of record.

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

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Volunteers Waste No Time Getting to Work in Cambodia

As opening ceremony speeches were taking place onshore in Cambodia, an extensive set of medical outreach activities were already emanating from the USNS Mercy, many of them including Project HOPE volunteers.

One team including nurse Dawn Gaynor began day one of surgeries for Cambodians in the Mercy’s Operating Rooms.


The pediatric group onboard welcomed children brought in by boat; it included nurses Fran Bauer and Peggy Goebel.

Student nurse Abby Chua was quizzed by the visiting Rear Admiral Christine Bruzek-Kohler on a patient’s diagnosed condition while fellow student nurse Patrick McNichols helped a three-year-old girl and her father cope with a ringworm infection of the head and face.

On the ICU ward on a very long shift were nurses Cherri Dobson and Chelsea Spindel.

Nurse Diane Sperenza was at the intake spot on the hospital ship called “Casualty Receiving.”

Janna Tamminga was providing Physical Therapy onboard.

On the Medical Surgical ward for the night shift was nurse Terry Tucker.

Nurse Kathy Templin was working onboard while colleague nurse Peggy Holt had a day of “liberty” in town along with students.

Another team undertook the first full day of seeing new patients at the Sihanouk Provincial Hospital; it included Project HOPE volunteer hospitalist Betsy Trefts, MD, family nurse practitioner Mary Levitz, and Medical Assistant Catherine Chung. A contingent of twenty people including pediatrician John Neale, MD, brought supplies and activities to the children at the Goodwill Center in town. Pharmacist Earl Rogers along with student Kristina Angelone were working in the dispensary, while their colleague Renee Summerson went off by helicopter for a five day Medical Civic Action Project in Kampot, rural Cambodia. Other doctors and nurses flew as far as Ratanakiri to deliver the medical care needed there.

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

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Opening Day in Cambodia

The Opening Ceremony for the Pacific Partnership 2010 in Cambodia took place June 16 on the pier in Sihanoukville, which is the country’s only port. This marks the first time in its five years that a US Pacific Fleet humanitarian team has come to Cambodia, bringing a range of medical, dental, veterinary, and engineering service. Providers come from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States.

The event to launch this Cambodian portion of the civic assistance project was resplendent with military regalia and was intensely covered by dozens of reporters and photographers.

Dr. Marshall Cusic, M.D, retired Navy Rear Admiral, was in attendance and represented Project HOPE as director of the current rotation. As pictured here, he made the journey between the ship and the land via a local wooden boat along with uniformed servicemen from all four military services.

On the pier which is used for fleet landing and where the Japanese ship JDS Kunisaki is now docked, an orange tent was erected adjacent to a formal stage of wood and granite. As the temperature rose to 97F and the humidity rose to 96%, the brass band from the USNS Mercy played on.

The array of dignitaries as photographed were: Carol Rodley, the US Ambassador to Cambodia; Commodore Lisa Franchetti, USNS Mercy, Pacific Partnership 2010 Commander; General Neang Phat, Secretary of State Defense Minister of Cambodia; Commodore Shunyo Susaki of the Kunisaki; and Masafumi Kuroki Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia. Their speeches emphasized the fact that Cambodia’s people eagerly want and need the assistance which this humanitarian exercise brings.

During the afternoon, tours of the hospital ship were provided to many people who had made their way over from land, including the two Ambassadors and the many reporters from Cambodia, Japan, Australia, the US, and beyond.

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

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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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