Faye Pyles Completes Pacific Partnership Mission

Faye Pyles is a pediatric nurse practitioner from Norfolk, Virginia, a four-time Project HOPE volunteer and retired after 25 years service with the U.S. Navy. During the Pacific Partnership 2010 mission, Faye served as HOPE’s Chief Nursing Officer and Operations Officer in Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia. Even as the rest of the HOPE volunteers returned home in August, Faye stayed on, working with those in need in Timor Leste. Here is a blog she wrote before leaving the USNS Mercy on August 31.

The trip from Darwin began as the trip from Guam. Calm seas, new faces, new roommates, and a new sense of anticipated adventures. However, as I walked around the decks of the Mercy there was a sense of something being missing. The ever present Project HOPE T-shirts, the usually smiling faces and the always entertaining company at meal time was absent. The stories of where they had been and how their days had gone were now silent. Just as Team One had left a little of their spirit behind so did Team Two, and for this I am grateful. I know we all have some pleasant memories that elicit smiles as we think of one of our unique team mates and their entertaining stories. My first mission as a Project HOPE operations officer was blessed with some extraordinary volunteers who made even the most trying days worthwhile.

As the Mercy left Project HOPE Team Two in Darwin to experience their own Australian adventures we pressed on towards Timor Leste. The crew has become aware that there is now not a full PH team. I now have heard many versions of the same phrase. Many people have commented to me that Mercy is left with little HOPE, minimal HOPE, just a small ray of HOPE, and soon will be HOPEless. I am trying to catalogue all the different versions of the same joke, if for nothing else then at least for my own amusement.

The first MEDCAPs in Timor Leste were exciting. I finally was able to see patients and actually do what I usually do on these missions. Though the site was dusty, and hot I was thrilled to be finally in the field. I felt a sense of coming home as I turned to the first patients in Timor and as I introduced myself asked, "How can I help you today?" The children and their parents were a pleasure to see.

The only drawback was one all providers wrestled with on this mission, CHIMES. I do not even text message, much less have a Black Berry or a Palm Pilot. So needless to say I spent more than a little time trying to get a sense of how to actually look at the patient rather than the little screen and how to manage to actually send the prescriptions to pharmacy without exiting the program twice before that was accomplished. I am pleased to say that I overcame CHIMES to actually have a great experience in the two days I was out in spite of technology. I was not the most productive provider, but that has never been a major concern of mine in these settings.

Never the less by the end of the first day I had elicited smiles from some of our many crying little children (at one point the count was six small screaming children in the pediatric room at the same time, quite a chorus) and expressions of relief from their parents as I assured them their child's heart sounded strong and their lungs were fine, and that their concerns had been heard. At the end of these long days the smiles we receive and the words of comfort that we provide are to me the essence of why we come on these missions. I look forward to the end of the week when I have three more days at another school. The adventure continues.


Faye Pyles, HOPE’s Chief Nursing Officer and Operations Officer during the entire Pacific Partnership 2010 mission.

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Third Continent for Fourth-Time HOPE Volunteer

It all started at a kitchen table in Seattle, almost as far from the Katrina disaster as one can get in the United States. Gabrielle Seibel and her husband, Mike, were, like so many Americans, frustrated at the lack of help being provided to the flooding victims. “And then it came to us," Gabrielle says, “We can do something.” The couple rounded up their three children and had a talk how their family could make a contribution. “We concluded that my nursing skills would be most directly beneficial to the Katrina situation,” says Gabrielle, who recently completed her fourth Project HOPE mission in Indonesia.

Gabrielle’s qualifications make her extremely well suited as a HOPE volunteer. She’s a nurse practitioner with two decades of experience, most of it working with children of immigrants, the underserved and minorities. But she also has a masters in public health that has given her the skills to support Project HOPE's commitment to education and infrastructure development. “What I love about Project HOPE is that they don’t just go into an area for a short term assignment and then leave. They are all about sustainable relationships and partnerships that result in better local health care. Everything was gone after Katrina,” says Gabrielle. “We had to pull a medical site together from scratch, while also seeing patients, all of whom where suffering from traumatic stress."

In Indonesia, Gabrielle assessed and treated hundreds of children in a variety of locations and conditions. In Ambon, at a site that was almost shut down because the crowds were on the verge of getting out of control, she saw a two-year-old boy whose arm and hand had been severely burned several days earlier. With no treatment, the child was in pain, the wound was infected, and his hand was contracting. Not content to just treat the pain and infection, Gabrielle took photos of the injury and discussed the case with both a plastic surgeon and a dermatologist. Arrangements were made to bring the child onto the ship, where state-of the-art burn care was provided. “The boy should regain full use of his hand," says Gabrielle. “There’s a lot of satisfaction when we can do something concrete like that.”

Gabrielle also had an opportunity to mentor two HOPE volunteers on this mission, both RNs who are just completing their final requirements to become nurse practitioners. During a MEDCAP, Gabrielle was able to demonstrate for them the many ways in which pediatric assessment differs from adult assessment. “You can hurt the child if you don’t hold the otiscope a certain way,” says Gabrielle. Dawn Horowitz, one of the NP students, took the initiative to write notes on every pediatric patient they saw together that day. Later, Gabrielle and Dawn reviewed the list and talked about standards of care that are feasible “in the field” as opposed to standards of care in optimal conditions.

“I also learn on these missions,” says this HOPE veteran. “In Ghana, they have a beautiful system for baby clinics. They bring in all the prenatal patients on one day, as a group; then all the well-babies and their mothers on another day.” She explains further that each clinic begins with a prayer, then songs, then dancing. Once everyone is relaxed and feeling good, the clinical care commences. On well-baby days, the mothers walk their infants through a series of stations, where they are weighed, measured and otherwise evaluated. “They don’t have the same concept of privacy that we do,” says Gabrielle. “But they also don’t have post-partum depression.” The mothers of her small patients in Seattle are often isolated, and she feels they could benefit by some Ghanian wisdom about scheduling and program design.

Gabrielle has now treated patients on Project HOPE missions in the United States, Liberia and Ghana in Africa and throughout Indonesia. “The medical care we provide can change lives,” says Gabrielle, certainly thinking of her recent burn patient. “But truly, the medical clinics just scratch the surface. The education and infrastructure piece is huge for us to meet the goal of local sustainability.”

Note to my non-medically trained readers, which may be most of you! Inside the world of health care, we love code words like infrastructure and sustainability. For the rest of us, those words boil down to something we can all understand: people, equipment and buildings that provide health care over the long run.


Thanks for your interest in Project HOPE -- Kathryn Allen, HOPE Public Affairs Officer

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Volunteers Provide Care to Very End

As the first rotation of Project HOPE volunteers were completing their time in Haiti and Colombia, we found out our partners the Navy were not quite finished with us yet.

Marilyn, Michael, and I went ashore today while the rest of the team packed for the journey tomorrow.

The patient flow went as normal. The only outstanding case of the day was 59-year-old Roman Dario Hernandez, who had a chronic ulcer that had grown to engulf his entire right shin.

Working calmly, Michael cleaned and redressed the area. He then prescribed Muprocin antibiotic ointment. When the tube of ointment runs out, Michael instructed Señor Hernandez to coat the ulcer regularly with honey and apply clean bandages. “You use honey because its sugar content is so high that nothing can live in it,” Michael explained.

After dinner we assembled in the Flag Mess for a special dessert with Commodore Negus and other officers. A huge vanilla cake with thick icing and fresh strawberry filling graced the conference room table. Team members Marty and Manish cut and served the cake.

Team members chatted with the officers and the other volunteers with whom we had served. A relaxed air settled over the room. “This is more intimate than the normal dessert. We got to talk to the officers more,” remarked Manish.

Usually departing civilian volunteers are formally recognized as an item of business at the 1930 confirmation brief, in front of dozens of the Navy brass. As the event drew to a close, Commodore Negus spoke of his appreciation for all the Continuing Promise volunteers. “Nothing is easy on a CP mission. The underlying purpose is you go to help folks, and you can’t do that but by giving of yourself... You’ve given your time, muscle, brain, and sweat to help the least among us. And on behalf of the Continuing Promise team, of which you will always be a part, I deeply thank you,” said the Commodore.

He then presented each of us with a Continuing Promise certificate bearing the fourteen flags of the host nations and mission partner nations. This evening was a crowning touch to our time here on the Iwo Jima. We’ve been privileged to have such wonderful shipmates.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

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Last Day in Colombia Yields Substantial Results

The last day of full-scale medical operations for the Project HOPE team in Colombia is much the same as any other day here. It was a solid stretch of work in the tropical heat to bring HOPE’s skill to those who need it most.

Skin conditions stood out today as the medical issue du jour. Sometimes a pattern can develop at the med sites where a noticeable number of patients arrive in a single day with a minor problem such as foot pain or headaches. There’s no common environmental explanation for these occurrences; they’re simply a matter of chance.

Nurse Practitioner Matya Cooksey saw an infant with inflammation around his forehead and right eye from insect bites. Such afflictions are all too common in a country with such diverse insect life. The pharmacy was out of hydrocortizone creme, so Matya prescribed Benadryl syrup.

Our other Nurse Practitioner onsite Sandy McCormack counseled an elderly patient on how to improve her general quality of life. Sandy advised the lady to avoid caffeine to help lower her blood pressure. She also suggested wearing shoes with arch support to alleviate pains in the patient’s legs.

“Today we saw general aches and pains, and gave second opinions,” Sandy said. “So we can let them (the patients) know that the Colombian doctors are doing their jobs.”

Team doctor Manish Oza’s final patient of the day was a trim woman in her early sixties who had been in a motorcycle accident two days before. The crash had given the patient severe arthritis in both shoulders. When asked to raise her arms above her head, she burst into tears from the pain before she had even lifted her elbows above the level of her shoulders.

Unfortunately, the woman’s injury will require an X-ray, which we do not have at Med Site 1. Manish, frowning deeply at his inability to help, prescribed an analgesic and referred her to the local hospital.

The day finished with an impromptu concert by a Colombian band in the school’s courtyard. The frenetic, trumpet-fueled tunes did not inspire one to dance so much as to watch the musicians, and let the sheer energy of the music burn away the day’s stress.

The team will depart the USS Iwo Jima soon. We have all enjoyed working in Colombia and Haiti. We are proud to have been a part of Project HOPE and Continuing Promise 2010.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

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Volunteers Diversify to Meet Needs in Coveñas

Project HOPE team member Marilyn Ringstaff is a Certified Nurse Midwife. Her role as part of the team is to handle all types of medical issues related to pregnancy and women’s well-being. In Coveñas, she continues the Women’s Health duties she had in Haiti, with a few key changes.

One of the biggest challenges in Haiti was that the Women’s Health department, one of six areas of medicine addressed at the med sites, was lacking all the modern equipment to perform full examinations for pregnant women. Doctors had to use the most accurate methods available to them, sometimes leaving the diagnosis in doubt.

Here, the site still lacks state-of-the-art equipment. However, Colombian patients frequently arrive with intact medical records, even ultrasound results.

“It makes a big difference... A lot of appointments are just consults now,” said Marilyn.

Another obstacle in Haiti was the population’s lack of access to basic birth control measures, notably condoms. This dearth of medical protection permits not only many unprepared-for pregnancies, but also the spread of a host of sexually transmitted diseases.

In contrast, Coveñas citizens have much better access to condoms and birth control. IUDs are available at local clinics for women who wish to postpone pregnancy. For those who want no more children, sterilization is a common practice.

“They call it ‘being disconnected.’ Took me a while to figure out what they were talking about,” Marilyn said with a laugh.

Because of these amenities, the Women’s Health station which functioned in Haiti has been incorporated into the more general Medical station for Colombia. Marilyn still sees many mothers, infants, and mothers-to-be, but her recent charges have included patients from strapping men with headaches to elderly ladies looking for advice on osteoporosis.
“Osteoporosis has no symptoms,” Marilyn counseled one patient. “But many people who have osteoporosis also have arthritis, which is probably what you’re feeling.”

The changes in procedure from country to country often present challenges for the Project HOPE team. But they are challenges that we will continue to overcome.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

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Surgical Patients Thankful

After extensive patient screening, 54 Colombians were chosen to take onboard the the USS Iwo Jima for surgery. Today, in the ship’s ward, I had the pleasure of speaking with one of them.

Leonore del Risco is an elderly resident of Coveñas. Her husband, José Antonio Carta, is scheduled to have a long-existing hernia removed tomorrow. “It’s amazing that everyone is taking care of us (so well). We did not expect everyone to be so friendly and attentive,” said Señora del Risco, speaking through Navy LS2(AW) Liseth Perez.

Señora del Risco lives with José Antonio and their 19-year-old granddaughter. The couple’s five children have long since moved away. To stave off the poverty that afflicts many Colombians, Señora del Risco works as a postal carrier, delivering letters on foot in blistering heat. Even so, she makes below the Colombian minimum wage. Where the expected salary is 500 pesos a week, she receives 350.

Still, she reasons, it’s better than nothing. She also looks to her four sons and daughter for support. Her eldest son, a security guard in Cartagena, is the main breadwinner. “I thank God that at least I have a job, and a meal on the table every day,” Señora del Risco said.

Her thanks seemed deeply heartfelt. Indeed, the unemployment rate for Colombians is 11.8 percent. She was also grateful to live in Coveñas, which she described as a “jewel.” The town has been spared the violence that persists in some regions. The weather is also temperate, meaning less risk of the floods that have taken lives elsewhere in the country.

The USS Iwo Jima continues to perform life-altering procedures for people just like Señor Carta and Señora del Risco. Stories like theirs remind us of the realities of life far away from the prosperity we Americans enjoy.

This evening at the landing zone, the boat crew made the first dry LCU landing. Team members were able to triumphantly step aboard the transport without wetting their feet. This is an historic moment for everyone who waded ashore day after day in Haiti.

Project HOPE volunteer Matya Cooksey reported that the activities at on shore clinic today went as expected. Site officials found a way to improve efficiency by thwarting “swooners.” Some townsfolk pretend faintness or seizures to gain entrance to the site faster. “If you swoon, you can go to the local hospital, or you can get back in line,” said Matya.

These cases show that when care is limited, some will take unusual measures to receive medical care. One more obstacle has been dealt with in our mission to help the people of Colombia.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

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HOPE Volunteers Take a Break at Guantanamo

We came into sight of Cuba around sunrise. As green peaks rose over the horizon, people crowded the deck to catch the first glimpses of the infamous Guantanamo Bay military base.
As tempting as it was to bring out our cameras, we resisted. Pictures of the base are strictly verboten, even from offshore.

The first building that came into sight reminded me from a distance, ironically, perhaps, of a mosque. As we pulled further into the strait guarding the bay, I saw that it was a domed airport hangar. A large blue twin-engine plane flew directly over the Iwo Jima as we passed.

As we docked, I found it strange to see the ship surrounded by land in almost all directions. We’d been surrounded by the open expanse of the sea for so long. On the dock below, forklifts scurried in and out of the ship’s hold, restocking it with food and other supplies.

Guantanamo’s climate logically reminds me of south Florida, but the rocky terrain is completely different. Large many-fingered cactus trees grow on the crests of hills.

The fauna is also jarringly dissimilar. Two-foot-long iguanas lumber through the lawns on the base, as omnipresent as squirrels in a city park.

The team spent the day stocking up on the clothing items we discussed for Colombia. After dark we sampled the base’s Jamaican restaurant, the Jerk House. The food was excellent, very similar to good Suthun’ barbecue, but with more spices.


Today is also the last day for our Creole translators, Jenny, Dinah, and Vanessa. Their skills were invaluable in Haiti, and we wish them well in their future work with the Red Cross in Miami.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

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Colombia Bound

The Continuing Promise Project HOPE team is barely out of sight of Haiti, and we’re already gearing up for the next stage of action. We’re striving to, as team member Sandy said yesterday, “work out all the kinks,” so we can perform HOPE’s work with maximum speed and effectiveness.

After the evening muster, team member Dr. Manish Oza gathered the team around the conference table in the Flag Mess to discuss how we might learn from some of the inconveniences we experienced in Haiti.

The knowledge that we’ll be facing a different climate in Colombia spurred our decisions. Haiti’s northern peninsula is dry in comparison to much of the Caribbean. Seeing that summer is Colombia’s rainy season, we expect things to get a lot wetter.

Team member Dr. Michael Polifka, who has undertaken numerous medical missions in Latin America, advised that everyone buy a rain jacket at Guantanamo. He also cautioned that we should be prepared to deal with copious mud.

“The big problem might not be rain, but the stuff the rain makes,” he said.
We’ll also purchase water shoes, lest we have to wade ashore again. Far from being an issue of comfort, dry feet will become essential in Colombia’s jungle humidity in order to thwart trench foot and similar conditions.

The team also agreed that we should become more proactive in dealing with the military’s pre-set structure for the med sites. Manish suggested taking advantage of team members’ knowledge of specific medical topics to give more detailed education presentations.
“We could cover asthma, wound-dressings, any number of stuff...” Manish said.

Earlier today three of the team got the chance to view Haiti as never before. Dr. Melissa Moore, Matya Cooksey, and Susan Eilermann were selected to go along with a helicopter crew that was photographing certain sites for publicity purposes. They saw everything from country villages to a beachside resort complete with a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.

One sight of the day made a particularly strong impression. Though many buildings in one rural settlement were primitive, it boasted one unexpected advancement in hygiene.
“I was super-impressed with these latrines up in the hills,” Matya said.

These latrines were solidly built and equipped with ventilation shafts, which help the waste break down faster. If toilets of this quality can be found in Haiti’s back country, it stands to sense that the country’s overall health can advance, even if only one town at a time.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

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More Than 4000 Patient Encounters in Haiti

August 2 was the last day of appointments at Med Site 1 in Haiti. The high rate of patient flow which yielded over 800 encounters yesterday increased even further.



“Well, it went so smoothly because we’ve gotten all the kinks out (over the previous days),” said Project HOPE team member Sandy McCormack.

Unfortunately, the Iwo Jima was tentatively scheduled to depart for Guantanamo Bay tonight, so Med Site 1 only performed services for half a day. Even so, they saw over 500 patients.

Tonight at the 1900 briefing on the next day’s activities, Captain Tanner reported that, during our eight-day-long stay in Haiti, we encountered 4054 patients.

Commodore Negus also offered his words of praise for civilians’ role in the exercise. It’s your hard work, persistence, character, and individual drive that touches folks... This is an absolutely magnificent, magnificent start to a magnificent deployment.”

All of the HOPE team is looking to duplicate the triumphs we’ve had in Haiti in Colombia. A day of R&R awaits us at Gitmo. But it won’t be long before we have our boots on the ground again.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

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Volunteers Witness Moving Ceremony

The first formal military ceremony I’ve ever seen is also likely to be one of the most moving that I ever will see.

Today’s change of command officially concluded Captain Jeffrey “Amtrack” Amick’s leadership of the USS Iwo Jima, and the inauguration of Captain Tom Chassee. Traditionally, the ceremony is a very formal event with the potential to be very elaborate. However, our limited resources aboard the ship demanded something more spartan. In fact, the brief gathering on the flight deck made the ritual’s core meaning even more powerful.

The ceremony opened with a lively rendition of “Anchors Away” by the Air Force. Then the Navy and Marine Corps color guard paraded their respective flags, along with Old Glory, in a perfectly drilled march. Finally, a trio of female sailors delivered a stunning rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.

Captain Amick mounted the stage, radiating his well-known air of geniality. After thanking his parents and his wife for their support, he launched into his farewell speech, already visibly moved by the occasion.

He began by describing a crew’s devotion to their ship, and the captain’s duty to the crew. He heartily congratulated the Iwo Jima’s crew for their achievements over the past few years.

“Wherever we go, they know (the task at hand is) gonna be done quickly, and it’s gonna be done right the first time,” said Amick.

That martial ability has now been harnessed in Continuing Promise, of which the captain also spoke highly.

“Thousands of lives will be touched and improved by what we are doing here (in Haiti),” he said.

Commodore Negus presented Captain Amick with the pennant which had flown from the mast during the length of his command, framed in a majestic wooden display case.

“I’d stay here for another thirty years if they’d let me... but no, they won’t let me,” Amick said in closing with a smile.

He then turned to Captain Chassee, exchanged salutes imbued with the deep gravity of the moment, and took his seat.

The new ship’s master Chassee kept his speech short, in keeping with the traditions of the event.
“All I can ask is that you offer me the same second-to-none support you showed Captain Amick,” Chassee said.

And so, the Iwo Jima will carry on with a new captain. This ceremony provided Project HOPE team members with a moving glimpse into the world of our partners in the armed services.

In other news, Dr. Howe, President and CEO of Project HOPE, visited the onshore medical sites and the ship. Check out his blog. We’ll also said goodbye to two of our number, Stephen and Sam Casscells, as they will be departing with Dr. Howe for Port-au-Prince and the flight back to the States. We wish them all the best.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

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Treating Hookworms in Haiti

The crowd was enormous. They numbered over three thousand, maybe as many as five, all competing for a place in the street flanking the school where we were setting up Med Site 1. Today was going to be intense.

Vanessa and Lt. Washington brought the last round of Haitian surgery patients from Med Site 1 to the ship yesterday. Now the functions of the two sites switch, with Med Site 2 in St. Louis du Nord screening for surgeries, and Med Site 1 in Porte de Paix hosting the wider medical operations.

We pulled up in the buses to the Lycée Tertulien Gibauld, a high school boasting architecture that looked like a cross between a medieval fortress and a modern artist’s apartment. The spiral staircase inside the atrium made of poured concrete reminded me of a middle-schooler’s paper-maché creation. An encircling concrete wall formed a solid barrier to the masses outside should they turn hostile.

Unfortunately, the school’s gate was too narrow to occupy our truck. It took all of our number to form a human chain to unload it.

The mayor of Porte de Paix Gaston Estima showed up to check on the proceedings and meet with Commander Rad. He conveyed his warm wishes and thanked us for our service to the town.
As soon as we let in the patients, the whole became very chaotic, just like it had at Med Site 2. Patients and translators rushed back and forth, all against the backdrop of the crowd’s constant murmur outside the wall.

Inside the medical room, Project HOPE doctors were hard at work. Team member Sandi McCormack assisted an aging man with an old rotator cuff injury, counseling him on arthritis and how to soothe muscle pain.

Unlike at Med Site 2, however, a new station had been created to help the townsfolk with hookworms. Hookworms are a gastrointestinal parasite that can prevent the intestines from properly absorbing nutrients. They are a significant scourge in Haiti for many who are already undernourished.

Team members Susan Eilermann and Sam Casscells helped man the table, with Steven Casscells translating from directions into French. They dispensed deworming pills to patients ten years old and up, and a liquid medicine to younger children. Some of the kids balked at a stranger giving them a cupful of yellow goo, but most accepted it dutifully.

In all, we assisted 477 patients today. The hookworm medicine will do wonders for the health of Porte de Paix’s citizens. But we’ve only seen a small fraction of those who came to wait outside the Lycée. There is still much to be done.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

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Volunteers continue to work in port and on shore in Haiti

Today I had the fortune of witnessing fourteen Haitian patients make the transition from shore to the comforts of the Iwo Jima.

I met Vanessa Bernard and Lt. Washington of the Navy on her way back to the UN compound leading fourteen patients from Med Site 1. The number of people meant we’d have to divide up into two helicopters to deliver them to the ship. The lieutenant didn’t speak Creole or French, so I volunteered to accompany her as the translator for the second group.

Vanessa departed on the first helicopter with ten of the patients. About an hour later the helicopter came into sight. We shielded our ears and eyes as it landed in a vortex of wind. We were issued earplugs and goggles and hurried up the aircraft’s ramp to find our seats.

We were in the air before I’d even had time to show the Haitians how to buckle the seat belts. As we flew over the sea I’d expected them to be amazed, but instead they looked nonplussed, as if the ride were a trying experience they’d rather just get done. After a short five minutes of flight and one long, banking turn, we touched down on the flight deck.

After dinner, I went back to the medical ward to check in with the patients I’d seen yesterday. Lubens is doing well, with a blood-soaked but tidy bandage on his temple. Methinks the resulting scar will help him impress the ladies when he gets back.

After playing two rounds of dominoes with six of the guys, I showed my laptop to Bryssainthe Berline, 19, and her 14-year-old sister, who declined to give her name. In a conversation at the landing zone this morning Bryssainthe had ask to hear some of my music, and so the pair flipped through my music library. They especially liked the more upbeat tunes from Gaelic Storm, Little Joy, and Metric.

Project HOPE team doctors Manish Oza and Michael Polifka related how their work continued at Med Site 2 with a high volume of patients. Fortunately, all of the cases were basic, easily ailments such as infections and body pains.

“God was smiling on us,” Manish said beatifically as he showed me a picture on his phone. “He sent us a rainbow after we were done.”

And it hadn’t even rained.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

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The Engine Room

I didn’t really want to go on the tour of the USNS Mercy engine room, but my fellow Project HOPE volunteers kept raving about how awesome it was so I finally caved to the peer pressure. After all, life on the ship has been a huge part of our experience here in Indonesia. And ship-based medical missions are an integral part of Project HOPE’s history, going back to the SS HOPE’s maiden voyage in 1960. To Indonesia, exactly 50 years ago!

As a group of us walked to the far aft end of the ship to start the tour, we admitted all we know about ship engine rooms comes from disaster movies. Titantic came up first, of course, with its scenes of sweaty seaman desperately trying to crank down hatches to forestall invading ocean water. Some of us also remember The Poseidon Adventure, in which the ship actually turned over, and Shelley Winters swam through flooded engine rooms while Karen Carpenter crooned in the background.

Our tour started off calmly enough with affable Chief Engineer Joe Watts giving an overview of the ship while pointing to various places on a large framed schematic. With an accent hinting of his home in Boston, he told us the Mercy runs 894 feet from stem to stern, 105 feet across at its widest point, and 116 feet high. We’re just a speck traveling through the vast expanses of the Banda Sea, but if the ship were to be dry docked, it would take three high school football fields to contain it.

Once we nodded our agreement that this is a really big boat, Joe gave us a mini- history lesson. In 1958, Project HOPE founder Dr. William Walsh persuaded President Eisenhower to donate a U.S. Navy hospital ship, and the concept of ship-based volunteer-staffed medical missions was born.

We are not in that same ship, today, of course. The SS HOPE was retired in 1974. In the early 1980’s bids to build two floating hospitals from scratch went out. The National Steel Company in San Diego came back with a crazy idea to retrofit existing oil tankers into hospitals. It would save millions, they argued, and they were awarded the contract. The hospital berthing units and wards were built “prefab,” then lowered by sections into the discrete vertical “slices” of the ship’s hulls.

Joe could write a book about the mechanics of the ship’s engines, and with a few months at sea, I could probably write a chapter. But this is a blog, so I’ll just share a few highlights: the ship’s propeller is 26 feet wide, and has five blades instead of four, for smoother sailing should surgery be required while underway. Also, the OR is placed dead center of the ship, where the least motion can be felt. (Nonetheless, I’m happy all the surgical patients have been discharged. Today, as we are underway to Australia, the waves are 7-9 feet high, and we are all weaving like drunken sailors.

Finally we pushed orange foam plugs into our ears and encountered the deafening noise in the actual engine rooms. We trudged through rooms as toasty as 118˚, and then computer and repair rooms as sweetly cold as meat lockers. The main room is vast and tall enough to make one dizzy looking up, but other spaces are so tight we had to make ourselves skinny to avoid touching grimy, hot machines. Joe shouted out information along the way, and we all nodded along as if we heard and understood every word.

I did catch this: Enormous boilers that bring to mind Dante’s Inferno produce our water for drinking and washing by heating salt water to 170 degrees. Then they apply some engineering mojo involving vacuum pressure. The sucked out salt sludge is returned to the sea, and more seawater is taken in. No water shortage here, salty or not.

Our tour wound down when Joe opened a hatch and ushered us onto a small balcony featuring fresh air and blinding sunshine. He showed us the gun that shoots a line over to an oil tanker, which ultimately results in a cable that connects the two ships. A hose as big a boson’s arm and then pumps 10,000 barrels of oil from the supply ship to the Mercy, as the two ships remain sailing at the exact same speed for three hours.

The next morning we actually witnessed this process, one of hundreds of wonders, big and small, we’ve experienced these last five weeks.


Thanks for your interest in Project HOPE -- Kathryn Allen, HOPE Public Affairs Officer

Help Support Project HOPE's Humanitarian, Health Education and Volunteer Programs Around the Globe.

Haitian Patients Happy to be Aboard the Iwo Jima

“Man overboard, man overboard. All hands to your stations. Man overboard off the starboard side.”

And so, at exactly 5:59 this morning, the announcement over the ship’s PA system sent all of us in the men’s sleeping area scrambling to put on shoes and clothing. As we had drilled, we raced upstairs to our muster point, the Flag Mess, as others all over the ship hurried to theirs. Officers and civilian team leaders would call roll to find out who was missing.

Despite this initial disruption, the surgeries for the Haitian patients who had been admitted yesterday began on schedule. Because the Iwo Jima will be leaving Haiti soon, and thus can’t provide follow-up care, most of the operations are simple, such as removing hernias and cataracts.

And no Project HOPE volunteers were closer to the action than our three Creole translators, Jenny Jean-Baptiste, Vanessa Bernard, and Dinah Salnave.

I watched as Jenny gave directions to a man with a huge bandage over one eye as Navy doctors ran post-op tests. In the next bed, a woman who’d had a breast mast removed dozed.

Next door in the ward, parents or children of patients sat quietly as those who’d already undergone surgery slept in bunk beds. A half-dozen sat in front of a television, raptly watching a bedraggled Kate Winslet paddle through the flooded halls of the Titanic. Nurses served hamburgers with fries, green beans, and lemonade.

Later in the day, more patients boarded the ship to await surgery tomorrow. Lubens Alexis, 20, was overjoyed to be on the ship to have a growth on his temple removed.

“It’s a good pleasure to be here, it’s like a party,” he said, with Jenny translating. “It’s just like living in New York or Miami. I’m glad to stay here.”

Steve Jean, 17, said he wasn’t nervous about the operation for his thigh hernia tomorrow. He remarked that he was glad that even after his surgery is done, the Iwo Jima and Project HOPE will continue to provide top-quality care to others like him.

HOPE team member Vanessa Benard, who is of Haitian origin, agreed.

“It is so amazing. I’m really happy the Iwo Jima put this all together to help my Haitian people. The normal surgeries for broken bones or dental work cost major money. Many patients cry, because they just can’t believe it.”

At tonight’s evening meeting Commodore Negus paid a visit to thank us for our work. He also detailed how a strategy of “Go Big Early” will strengthen the bond between NGOs such as Project HOPE and military humanitarian missions in the future.

“This mission depends on our partnership across the board. I’ve told everyone across the Navy chain of command how powerful this (alliance) is, and I will continue to do so,” he said.

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

Help Support Project HOPE's Humanitarian, Health Education and Volunteer Programs Around the Globe.

Volunteers Find Their Pace in Haiti

We entered the École Pierre Ridgway to find the medical operations already in full swing.

“Today is awesome. I really like this,” said Project HOPE team member Dr. Michael Polifka. “When it’s just about on the point of chaos, I really like it.”

Michael’s observation was accurate. Doctors around the courtyard conversed with patients through interpreters as more patients waited beneath an awning. Other personnel raced between rooms, ferrying medical supplies. Still more sailors and airmen crowded the sidelines, maintaining communication with the Iwo Jima.

As the day progressed, doctors both military and civilian found a pace to their work, and were able to work even more efficiently than they had yesterday.

HOPE doctor Manish Oza examined a patient with an alarmingly enlarged jaw. He deduced the problem was not dental, but probably a tissue infection which could be reversed with antibiotics.

Manish went on to detail the cases he’d already seen today. Unlike the jaw case, some had only required simple cures. Examples were irrigation for excessive earwax, Motrin for back pain, and Benadryl for allergies.

“You really get both faces of the spectrum,” Manish said, referring to the frequency of mild to severe cases at Med Site 2.

HOPE pediatrician Dr. Melissa Moore saw numerous adults and children with scabies. She said as a doctor she could prescribe promethrin creme for an immediate fix. However, the mites that cause scabies are best dispelled with proper hygiene methods, such as regular washing.

Team members worked constantly, grabbing a swallow of water or a bite of meal-ready-to-eat (MRE) in between patients. Breaks were often measured in seconds.

At the end of the day, Major Stroble announced we had assisted 488 patients and filled 642 prescriptions. We were exhausted, but jubilant to have helped so many.

Elsewhere, Stephen and Sam “The Cousins” Cascells had the opportunity to visit the Northwest Haitian Christian Mission in St. Louis du Nord. They spent the day playing with the deaf and mute children who reside there. The kids in turn taught them a fair amount of sign language.

“It was a great day. We kept playing soccer with the kids and translating (from French.) It was definitely the highlight of the trip so far.”

Story and photos by HOPE volunteer and PAO, Eric Campbell

Help Support Project HOPE's Humanitarian, Health Education and Volunteer Programs Around the Globe.

FIU Professor, HOPE Volunteer, and Expolorer

Randy Roark just might hold the record among all Project HOPE volunteers for the number of years spent in graduate school. He has acquired five – count them – post graduate degrees. He’s also had the smarts to billet himself in beautiful places with great weather: PhD in nursing (Hawaii); MS Adult NP (San Francisco); MPH Epidemiology (Miami); and MA in Exercise Physiology (Berkley, CA.) His law degree (NYC) does seem to be an outlier, both in subject matter and location, but Randy says he “just thought it would be fun.”

So what’s driving this educational marathon?

“Well, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up,” Randy says sheepishly. “But nursing has been central to everything I’ve done.”

In Indonesia, Randy had a real opportunity to put his nursing skills to use during a 7-day, 6-night MEDCAP in Jailolo, a town near our Ternate stop.

“I expected to see exotic cases, and I did see active TB, malaria, and even an eel bite,” says this first time volunteer. “But the real eye opener was that people here suffer so needlessly from hypertension, diabetes and strokes; diseases that are treatable. It’s really tough to send them on their way.”

Randy now teaches at Florida International University, and the academic year allows him to volunteer for Project HOPE.

“I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time, but wondered if I have the mettle to do it. After Jailolo, I’m happy to say that I do. I’ll definitely be doing more medical missions.”

On this mission, Randy is also mentoring two FIU nurse practitioner masters students. He is charged with ensuring they receive appropriate training on the mission.

“Vanessa (Doorasamy) was with me in Jailolo, and she just jumped right in,” says Randy. “Dawn (Horowitz) is so smart and so thorough, but she wanted to feel more confident. I think her trip to Moratai took care of that.”

Randy is several oceans away from his roots in Indiana, where he was the first in his family to graduate college.

“My family calls me a vagabond, but I prefer to think of myself as an explorer. Indonesia is just a first stop.”


Thanks for your interest in Project HOPE -- Kathryn Allen, HOPE Public Affairs Officer

Help Support Project HOPE's Humanitarian, Health Education and Volunteer Programs Around the Globe.

Project HOPE Volunteer Dr. Timboe First Days in Haiti

And Their Faces Were Changed...

From aboard the USNS Comfort in Haiti, it was a very gratifying sight this morning as we made rounds on the wards after yesterday's first day of patient care. Today we were greeted with faces of relief, rest and a beginning sense of safety, security and comfort as our patients began to realize the new world to which they had awoke.

Just the day before, the Comfort had arrived in Haiti’s harbor and the helicopters made their patient pick-ups and transfers to the ship. It was a remarkable, life-changing event for every one of these patients who probably never in their wildest dreams expected to be whisked aboard a helicopter. As they arrived in the casualty receiving area of the Comfort, you could see the drain of life on their faces and in their spirit---a sense of dazed fatigue after several days of nearly unspeakable ordeals resulting in a bewilderment---but Comfort had arrived and now they could rest to renew their life and their spirit.

Since arriving to join the Comfort on Friday, January 15th and setting sail the next morning, I have witnessed the ship and its crew make an amazing transformation as they hurried to help relieve the suffering to our neighbor to the south. The leadership and the entire health care team understood the gravity of their task and the different aspects of the systems that needed to be put in place to ensure a sustained high volume of complex patient care---care to be provided with safety and compassion by a team of healthcare personnel from around the country. The world has come to Haiti, the Comfort has come to Haiti and soon Project HOPE will expand its impact on the people of Haiti with its famous caring and compassion professionalism.

Dr. Harold Timboe, Project HOPE volunteer

Volunteer Video from Liberia

Certified Nurse Midwife, Jennifer Oh, speaks about her recent volunteer experience with Project HOPE in Liberia.

HOPE Volunteers Complete South Africa Mission

We've completed our two weeks in the West Rand District outside of Johannesburg. What a busy two weeks it has been! Aside from meeting some wonderful South Africans and a great group of Project Hope volunteers and staff, we managed to complete 77 needs assessment surveys of the informal settlement Zenzele over the course of 5 days, provide two educational days on chronic disease to 28 community health workers, and conduct a facility assessment for the Randfontein EMS station and the Beckersdale Clinic. We also managed to have some fun as well, spending our day off in a Lion & Rhino Wild Animal Reserve and seeing some cool caves in the Cradle of Humankind. We even celebrated one volunteer's birthday during the trip with lots of laughter and a home made chocolate cake.

While this portion of the South Africa volunteer trip has come to an end, the real work is only beginning. The surveys have to be analyzed, the facility assessments results need to be turned in, and the education of the community must continue. I look forward to seeing the future work of Project HOPE South Africa build from the results of this experience. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of this pilot volunteer project.


By HOPE volunteer Michelle Pena

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