Around the Ward

Hello Everyone...I just got done working the midnight shift this past weekend. I am adjusting back to sleeping at night and living during the day. On one of my midnight shifts I took some time to take a few pictures of the ward. After all, this is where I have spent the majority of my time the last 2 months. We are not allowed to take pictures of patients while they are on the ward, so the pictures are of an empty ward. Most of the time the ward is filled with people. When a patient comes in for surgery, more often than not, they bring family with them. Usually this is because the patient is a mother who brings her children with her or the patient is a child who needs to have a parent with them. Last weekend I took care of a patient here for a thyroidectomy who had 6 month old twins with her. I spent more time taking care of her twins, Hope & Joy, than I did actually looking after the patient. (No complaints here - the children were lovely and so cute). So, in the pictures the ward might actually look big. However, when you add in family members sleeping on the floor, kids playing and running everywhere, patients and nurses the room gets filled up quickly.


This first picture is our Intesive Care Unit (ICU). Thank God we haven't had to use it too much since I have been here. This is a 3 bed ICU with 2 isolation rooms as well.


This is a picture of one of our four wards all cleaned up and ready for patients.


This is our "nurses" station. Now imagine 4 nurses all crowded around the cabinets at 8am trying to all get to the same medicine for the patients. It is the same here as at home, the nurses station is never big enough!


This is our medicine cabinet. Mostly pain meds, antibiotics, antifungals, de-worming meds, and vitamins.


And this last picture is one of my favorites. This is a picture of what hangs on the wall in the ward bathrooms for the patients. It is pictures depicting for the patients what NOT to do in the toilet. The toilets are not for doing laundry and not for standing on. Most of our patients have never seen toilets as we know then, so sometimes they need a bit of instruction.

The View from Here

I am so grateful to everyone who is keeping up with the blog and my journey. It means a lot to me that you all are reading. I have had a few requests for some more pictures of my surroundings, view from the ship, etc. So, here you are...

This first picture is of the dock, and the walkway up to the ship. It is our "front porch". Everyone is always coming and going from here.


This picture is the view looking the opposite way from the walkway. In the foreground are our tent clinics. They are an extension of the hospital on the ship. One tent serves as our "admissions" area where people coming to be admitted to the hospital get checked in. The other tent is our eye clinic. We are currently performing about 35 cataract surgeries per day. This tent is where people come after their surgeries to get eye care instructions, and follow up check ups. In the background is a ship that was seized by the government because they found cocaine on board. Rumor has it that millions of dollars of cocaine were found. The ship has been docked for months.


This picture is of me, with Monrovia in the background. This was taken from Deck 7 from the ship.

And this is the view from the front of the ship. We are in one of a few different harbors around the coast of Monrovia.

And this is the view from the back of the ship. This is the first view of the ship that you see as you drive up the dock.

I am working midnight shift this weekend - 7pm until 7am, so I have had a quiet Saturday as I try to sleep to stay up all night. We are also on a "ship holiday". Every few months the ship-workers (except the nurses) get a long weekend. So it is quiet on the ship today. Oh, and as you can see, rainy season hasn't completely taken over. It does rain here, but we still get wonderful warm sunny days too - thank you God!

Cabin Pics

 

 

These are pictures of my cabin. Some of my friends here are jealous. Apparently my cabin has a wider hallway area than most. Also, I have had the guilty pleasure of having my litle berth area to myself for almost the entire time I have been here so far. That is about to change, tomorrow I will get a new bunk-mate.

more pics

 

 

This is a picture of the "driveway" located on the dock. Mercy Ships has several land rover vehicles they use for their land based operations. Every day teams go out and dig wells and various other construction projects. Also, the community health clinics and dental teams use these vehicles. Also, on weekends drivers can sign the vehicles out and take people like me to church...or the beach - usually it's both in one day.

Pictures...finally

 
Well, today I have the whole day off so I was able to finally get some pictures up on the blog. Thank you to everyone who is stopping by and reading. Thank you for leaving a comment and thank you to everyone who has emailed me. It is truly a wonderful treat to get a message from home! This first picture is a view of the back of the ship. The dock is gated and guarded by UN soldiers, so after driving down a long driveway, passing 2 gates, this is the first view of the ship that you see.

Africa Mercy

Well, I have just one month to go before I head out to live and work aboard the Mercy Ship named the Africa Mercy. Everyone has been asking me what will life be like living and working aboard a ship. I have seen some photos of the ship, but really I haven't had a good idea of exactly what I am about to embark on. On the Mercy Ships website I came across a really great video tour of the ship I will be on. If you are interested in viewing the video click the link below. The video is about 17 minutes long, but is well worth it. The video is hosted by Don Stephens - the founder of the Mercy Ships organization. The video shows all the main parts of the ship including living quarters and the hospital area. It also really conveys the heart of the mission of Mercy Ships - to serve the poorest of the poor by following the example of Jesus Christ.

Click on this link to watch a fantastic tour of where I will be living.

I hope you will take the time to watch the video. Everytime I watch it I get tears in my eyes - I am so excited to get to partner with such a worthwhile organization. And, let me just say thank you again to all of you - for your support of me and the Mercy Ships. Thank you for partnering with me to follow the example of Jesus Christ - to love others.