17 July, 2011, Pohnpei, FSM. We crossed the equator northbound on 27 June at longitude 129 deg heading to the lush tropical state of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. It began raining more frequently and the weather was hotter and more humid than at our previous stop in Dili, Timor Leste. Opportunities for stargazing were limited, but the night sky was lovely on a clear moonless night. The clouds are especially spectacular in this area of the Pacific at any time of day, making fantastic sunrises and sunsets, and frequent rain showers make frequent rainbows. Cleveland arrived at Pohnpei on Sun 3 July, and for various reasons was unable to anchor so she remained underway outside the reef at a slow speed during the entire mission stay. Life aboard ship became trying as severe water rationing was implemented. There were strong winds and rough seas outside the reef for the first few days, so recovering the LCU (landing craft unit) back into the ship was a nail-biting experience, and the crew was rewarded with cheers upon successful re-entries. My first trip ashore was for festivities in the port town of Kolonia on July 4th, which included the Pacific Partnership 2011 Opening Ceremony, a softball game pitting the Cleveland Navy team versus a Pohnpeian team (who trounced the Navy team), and the Navy band concert at the Spanish Wall stadium. We had a little time to check out the local markets in search of cold drinks, snacks, and shade. Did I mention how hot and humid it is here? Early on there were a few days with only a few rain showers because a cyclone north of here was sucking the clouds into itself, but once that moved away the expected pattern of showers every few hours re-established itself. There are beautiful flowers everywhere, and of course one of my favorites is the “ground orchid”, Spathoglottis plicata, the purple variety of which seems to planted nearly everywhere.
A limited number of medical personnel traveled by small plane to work sites in the other 3 states - Yap, Chuuk (previously know as Truk), and Kosrae, but both of my work assignments were in Pohnpei. The first site was about 45 minutes by bus from Kolonia through dense, lush tropical landscape to the Nanpei High School, where relatively new buildings were available to set up a clinic because the students are on summer holiday. The humid climate meant that we saw many patients, mostly children, with tropical skin ulcers and abscesses, some of which required cleaning and dressing in the wound clinic where I worked for one and a half days. The locals seem to take mid-day siesta seriously - only a few arrived after 1 PM, thus enabling us to complete our workdays without turning away patients, and there was even time on the first day for an impromptu volleyball game. The second site was the Pohnpei Hospital in Kolonia where we provided additional capacity to the hospital staff and held continuing education seminars. I spent one day cleaning and dressing wounds and giving antibiotic injections, and the second day in the patient registration/triage area. The hospital staff treated us to local eats including bananas 5-ways (fresh on the stem, fried, chips, fritters, and bread hot out of the cafeteria oven - divine!), yam chips, breadfruit chips, pineapple, avocado, papaya, coconut, and watermelon.
The Cleveland had a schedule change requiring departure for Honolulu a day earlier than originally planned, so I needed to cancel my last day of work to pack, complete disembarking procedures, and say hurried good-byes. My last LCU ride to shore was on the afternoon of 13 July (exactly 3 months after embarking in Tonga on 13 April). My sister Hilarie had arrived at our hotel a few hours earlier, so I threw my bags in the room and headed for the Closing Reception that evening at the US ambassador’s residence, which was a lovely end to the mission with a spectacular view of the reef, a buffet (including a huge roasted pig sent by a local chief), drinks, speeches, and native dancers.
So now I’m relaxing with Hils at The Village Hotel outside Kolonia. The Village is a charming, rustic thatched hut establishment in the jungle on a ridge above the lagoon, and we have a fantastic view of the reef from our hut. The jungle is rich with continuous motion and sound - rustling and falling leaves and coconuts, bugs and birds flying and singing, chickens clucking and crowing, lizards running up and down the trees, and raindrops from the frequent showers. And then there are those sounds of the night! We’ve gone on a day trip that included snorkeling with manta rays, lunch and reef snorkeling at a tiny island, visiting ancient basaltic ruins, and swimming in a waterfall. We’ve been to town to view and purchase local handicrafts. Hopefully tomorrow will be another day of snorkeling before we leave for Cairns, Australia on 19 July. I’ll finally be home on 26 July.
People have been asking the inevitable questions - “are you glad you did the volunteer mission?”, and “would you do it again?” The answers are YES. But I wouldn’t want to do the same thing twice, so “again” will have to be different. At this point in time I don’t know what is next for me, but I know that I had an extraordinary experience that most people won’t ever have or even know that they could have. I want to give my deepest heartfelt thanks to all of the people that I met and worked with from the Pacific Partnership, the USS Cleveland, the partner nations and host nations; to all of the patients who entrusted us with their medical care; and to the staff, mission volunteers, and donors from Project HOPE. You are indeed very special to me.
Wishing you all good health and cheer!
“Nurse Bridget”
Project HOPE Volunteer, Pacific Partnership 2011
www.projecthope.org
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Dusty Dili
27 June, 2011. Between Timor Leste and Micronesia, heading NE approaching the equator. We’ve completed the mission in Timor Leste and are underway to the Federated States of Micronesia. The conditions in Timor were different from the previous missions in several respects. This is the dry “winter” season in Timor (winter solstice occurred south of the equator), and Dili is on the dry leeward side of the island. So our days were hot, dry, very dusty (they haven‘t paved paradise yet), usually with a decent breeze in the afternoons to blow the dust over everything and everyone. It appears that most families cook over wood fires, trash is burned, and other fires of non-obvious origin are burning most of the time, so the air quality was bad from the dust and smoke. Little wonder that most of our Timor patients complained of cough and runny nose, because we were experiencing the same. Hydration was even more important here because the sweat was dried away before you realized you were sweating. Unlike the lush greenery of our previous mission sites, Dili’s landscape looks much like California’s coastal mountains in summertime. However, the personnel who traveled by helicopter to remote clinical sites on the windward side of Timor reported that it was cooler, moister, and a thick fog rolls in around 2 PM. Very few Timorese speak English, and unlike Pidgin, Tetum is not similar to English, so we relied on our interpreters to communicate with our patients. Most of our interpreters were university students - either local Timorese majoring in languages or Indonesian medical and nursing students volunteering with the NGO HOPE Worldwide (a separate group from Project HOPE). Unlike the previous mission sites, there were only a few dozen patients waiting for us to arrive each morning instead of many hundreds waiting, however the Timorese arrived at a steady pace throughout the day and we were usually able to see everyone that came to the sites. We saw over 1200 patients at the main clinic on last full day. The medical conditions differed also - e.g. many more upper respiratory complaints in Timor and fewer lower extremity wounds. I was lead nurse for the 3 days at the first Dili clinical site, so I was on my feet in the sun for the entire days trying to ensure that all nursing functions went smoothly - I now have full appreciation for my compression socks, 50+ SPF sunscreen, and a 3-liter Camelbak hydration bag filled with electrolyte solution. Our multi-national military and NGO nursing group are a delight to work with, and we gelled quickly considering that most only arrived a few days earlier during crew change in Darwin.
The Dili Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 7K occurred while we were here, and I volunteered with a multi-national first-aid team at the medical tent at the finish line. It was a big, festive event with several thousand runners/walkers/wheelchairs, including about 100 from our ship and hundreds of exuberant school kids. I heard that the men’s division of the marathon was won by a Kenyan while the women’s division was won by a Timorese. The race started at 6:30 AM around sunrise, and by the time most people were finishing the temperature was in the mid-80s. We treated more than a handful of runners for heat exhaustion, some of them requiring IV fluids for rehydration.
My liberty time in Dili was spent browsing through the local handicrafts market, which consisted primarily of hand loom weavings remarkably similar to those of Central America, climbing the 585 +/- 5 steps up to the statue of Jesus Christ standing on a globe atop a promontory overlooking the harbor, and enjoying refreshments on the beach or at a beach-side restaurant. The sunsets were spectacular red. See pictures on Flickr.
We’ll be crossing the equator on the evening of Monday 27 June. The ship had a line-crossing ceremony for Pollywogs (sailors crossing the equator for the first time) on the southbound crossing between Hawaii and Tonga, but unfortunately for those of us who came aboard afterwards no ceremony is planned for the northbound crossing. Apparently King Neptune won’t recognize me as a Shellback in the absence of a ceremony or certificate. I foresee another equator-crossing trip in my future to remedy this. I’ll be spending mornings during our passage to Micronesia volunteering in the ship’s medical ward where I continue to see interesting illnesses and injuries. It’s hard to believe that the mission adventure is nearing the end and I’ll be home in a month’s time.
Cheers to all!
The Dili Marathon, Half-Marathon, and 7K occurred while we were here, and I volunteered with a multi-national first-aid team at the medical tent at the finish line. It was a big, festive event with several thousand runners/walkers/wheelchairs, including about 100 from our ship and hundreds of exuberant school kids. I heard that the men’s division of the marathon was won by a Kenyan while the women’s division was won by a Timorese. The race started at 6:30 AM around sunrise, and by the time most people were finishing the temperature was in the mid-80s. We treated more than a handful of runners for heat exhaustion, some of them requiring IV fluids for rehydration.
My liberty time in Dili was spent browsing through the local handicrafts market, which consisted primarily of hand loom weavings remarkably similar to those of Central America, climbing the 585 +/- 5 steps up to the statue of Jesus Christ standing on a globe atop a promontory overlooking the harbor, and enjoying refreshments on the beach or at a beach-side restaurant. The sunsets were spectacular red. See pictures on Flickr.
We’ll be crossing the equator on the evening of Monday 27 June. The ship had a line-crossing ceremony for Pollywogs (sailors crossing the equator for the first time) on the southbound crossing between Hawaii and Tonga, but unfortunately for those of us who came aboard afterwards no ceremony is planned for the northbound crossing. Apparently King Neptune won’t recognize me as a Shellback in the absence of a ceremony or certificate. I foresee another equator-crossing trip in my future to remedy this. I’ll be spending mornings during our passage to Micronesia volunteering in the ship’s medical ward where I continue to see interesting illnesses and injuries. It’s hard to believe that the mission adventure is nearing the end and I’ll be home in a month’s time.
Cheers to all!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Down Under Darwin
16 June, Dili, Timor Leste.
After a 2-day delay we departed Darwin, a lovely city in the region referred to as the “Top End” of Australia’s Northern Territory. The weather was pleasant, with sunny days in the low 80s and strong breezes in the morning, which diminished during the day. The sunsets were brilliant red, partly due to the smoke from controlled burns in the surrounding bush country during this early part of the dry season. I went on a day-long bus tour of the Litchfield National Park where the principal sights of interest are the numerous waterfalls and large termite mounds. It was safe to swim in the pools of some of the waterfalls but not others because salt-water crocodiles are able to swim upstream during the rainy season, and any remaining after the stream level drops must be relocated before swimming is allowed. We didn’t see any crocs that day but did see a verrrry large lizard on the stream bank - probably a land mullet or skink. The mounds are built by tiny grass-eating termites using soil, saliva, and feces to create a stone-hard, fire-retardant home. We also saw rock wallabies (small relatives of kangaroos). The botanic garden in Darwin has a large shade house for orchids, tillansia, and bromeliads, as well as orchids tied onto the trees. Only a few orchids were in bloom since the dry season has just begun. I expected the orchid collection to focus on Australian species but there was a wide range of genus and species present.
The Northern Territory has an active aboriginal art community, and the aboriginal art work in the NT museum as well as in the numerous aboriginal art galleries is especially enjoyable. There are several large outdoor markets with numerous food and souvenir vendors, and based on the crowd, the Mindl Beach Sunset Market on Thursday evenings is clearly the place to be. There was a great musician playing 4 large didjeridoos accompanied by a drummer, which convinced me that my next career should be as a didjeridoo musician. The Greek festival was a well-attended weekend event with arcade activities for the children, dozens of grills cooking meat for kebabs and yiros, delicious desserts, and lively dancing - opa!! I visited the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association for their Wednesday night dinner and entertainment. They were very welcoming, gracious hosts. I had hoped to find a boat on which to go sailing, but there were few boats sailing in the large harbor during the time we were here, even over the 3-day holiday weekend (they celebrated the Queen of England’s birthday). So the rest of my liberty time was spent with shipmates walking the downtown area, eating and drinking coffee at sidewalk cafes, and shopping. The fresh local barramundi fish (firm and sweet - much like Maryland’s rock fish) and shrimp were especially good. But Darwin is an expensive city, so 2 extra days in port were hard on everyone’s wallets.
The people of Darwin were very welcoming and friendly, but we were glad to leave for the 2-day sail to Timor Leste to continue our humanitarian mission. I’ll be lead nurse at the first medical site that will be set-up on a school athletic field in the capital city of Dili. Additionally, all of the PP 11 nurses will be participating in a running event - marathon, half-marathon, or 7K - either as runners or emergency medical staff. We had a large personnel change in Darwin, but the PP 11 embarkees in Darwin are gelling well with the personnel who remained on board after the first 2 rotations. We arrived at Dili today, so we‘ll be ready to go ashore and start work on Friday.
Cheers to all!!
After a 2-day delay we departed Darwin, a lovely city in the region referred to as the “Top End” of Australia’s Northern Territory. The weather was pleasant, with sunny days in the low 80s and strong breezes in the morning, which diminished during the day. The sunsets were brilliant red, partly due to the smoke from controlled burns in the surrounding bush country during this early part of the dry season. I went on a day-long bus tour of the Litchfield National Park where the principal sights of interest are the numerous waterfalls and large termite mounds. It was safe to swim in the pools of some of the waterfalls but not others because salt-water crocodiles are able to swim upstream during the rainy season, and any remaining after the stream level drops must be relocated before swimming is allowed. We didn’t see any crocs that day but did see a verrrry large lizard on the stream bank - probably a land mullet or skink. The mounds are built by tiny grass-eating termites using soil, saliva, and feces to create a stone-hard, fire-retardant home. We also saw rock wallabies (small relatives of kangaroos). The botanic garden in Darwin has a large shade house for orchids, tillansia, and bromeliads, as well as orchids tied onto the trees. Only a few orchids were in bloom since the dry season has just begun. I expected the orchid collection to focus on Australian species but there was a wide range of genus and species present.
The Northern Territory has an active aboriginal art community, and the aboriginal art work in the NT museum as well as in the numerous aboriginal art galleries is especially enjoyable. There are several large outdoor markets with numerous food and souvenir vendors, and based on the crowd, the Mindl Beach Sunset Market on Thursday evenings is clearly the place to be. There was a great musician playing 4 large didjeridoos accompanied by a drummer, which convinced me that my next career should be as a didjeridoo musician. The Greek festival was a well-attended weekend event with arcade activities for the children, dozens of grills cooking meat for kebabs and yiros, delicious desserts, and lively dancing - opa!! I visited the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association for their Wednesday night dinner and entertainment. They were very welcoming, gracious hosts. I had hoped to find a boat on which to go sailing, but there were few boats sailing in the large harbor during the time we were here, even over the 3-day holiday weekend (they celebrated the Queen of England’s birthday). So the rest of my liberty time was spent with shipmates walking the downtown area, eating and drinking coffee at sidewalk cafes, and shopping. The fresh local barramundi fish (firm and sweet - much like Maryland’s rock fish) and shrimp were especially good. But Darwin is an expensive city, so 2 extra days in port were hard on everyone’s wallets.
The people of Darwin were very welcoming and friendly, but we were glad to leave for the 2-day sail to Timor Leste to continue our humanitarian mission. I’ll be lead nurse at the first medical site that will be set-up on a school athletic field in the capital city of Dili. Additionally, all of the PP 11 nurses will be participating in a running event - marathon, half-marathon, or 7K - either as runners or emergency medical staff. We had a large personnel change in Darwin, but the PP 11 embarkees in Darwin are gelling well with the personnel who remained on board after the first 2 rotations. We arrived at Dili today, so we‘ll be ready to go ashore and start work on Friday.
Cheers to all!!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Tusk Envy
2 June, underway between PNG and Australia. We’ve departed PNG with the confidence of accomplishment, but a feeling of uncompleted work. Accomplishment in knowing that we gelled as an international military and NGO team, but uncompleted in knowing that we turned away hundreds of patients that wanted our services at each of the 3 clinical sites in Lae. Seeing the crush of a thousand patients waiting for us as we arrived each morning was daunting, and prompted us to search for ways to streamline our processes and increase our efficiency while maintaining quality medical care, engaging in personal/cultural exchanges with our patients, and teaching/learning from our host medical counterparts. We had been pleased with ourselves when we saw 900 patients on the 3rd day in Lae, but on the last day we saw over 1700 patients at the 2 city sites we ran simultaneously - yet there were still hundreds who were turned away when the work day ended. Have I mentioned the heat and humidity? We gave emergency care to an older man who got in the queue at 2 AM and collapsed at 11 AM, apparently due to heat. We had some relief from the heat on the second to last day but that was because it rained for the first 2 hours - those of us working outside in pre-registration struggled to stay dry.
My last day was very fulfilling because I was assessing adult patients for back and knee pain (very common due to hard physical labor with few of the conveniences of first world countries) and, if not complicated by other medical conditions, giving them pain medication and teaching them strengthening and range of motion exercises. Whereas the patients at the countryside clinic brought us quantities of tropical fruits as gifts, the city patients brought us gifts of traditional necklaces and purses (bilum) carried by both men and women (see Flickr photos with bilum carried around the neck or used as a sling to carry a baby with the strap over the top of the head). The bilum colors and patterns signify the bearer’s tribe, and a few gift bilum were woven with possum fur. I was very honored to receive a unique necklace of shells with 2 boar tusks as pendants from a nurse who attended my back clinic (see Flickr photo). This necklace was declared the most impressive gift, and the men quickly developed tusk envy, even offering to trade a few bilum for the necklace. A unique gift from a nurse - no trade!!
I represented Project HOPE at the closing reception held on Cleveland’s flight deck for distinguished PNG visitors including government officials, business and civic leaders, and Australian military residents. It was a pleasant opportunity to talk to local residents about life in PNG since our liberty options on shore were limited to the Lae Yacht Club and the Melanesian Art Center (actually a cultural gift shop). Cleveland arranged with the Lae Yacht Club to allow a limited number of personnel to visit its gated facility during the last several days in port. A large covered deck overlooks a small marina (all power boats), and the galley and bar were open to purchase refreshments. A club member who owned one of the liberty boats hired by Cleveland to shuttle us to and from said that the wind is too light in the bay to interest most sailors. We did see a few locals sailing tiny outriggers, but I forgot my camera that day L so no photos to show you. The craft center was packed full of interesting masks, statues, jewelry, bilum, paintings, carvings, drums, etc. from various tribes and provinces in PNG. Sadly no photos of the center to share but I have photos of the pieces that I bought (see Flickr).
Our liberty port of Darwin, Australia is 5 days away, and there we’ll be saying farewell to the Canadian dental team and most of the Aussies who’ve been aboard for the first 2 rotations, as well as Army reservists and 4 HOPEies who joined us for the 2nd rotation. We’ll be joined by their replacements for the final mission rotation to Timor Leste and Micronesia. While in Darwin I'll be going on an organized day tour to Litchfield National Park, and plan to visit one or both yacht clubs in Darwin. My liberty buddy to the clubs (a requirement to go ashore in a liberty port) also owns a sailboat so we're hoping to catch a ride on a boat with a club member. It’s hard to believe that I’m at the half-way point of my trip and 2/3 through the medical mission. During the first 3 weeks I questioned my sanity for volunteering to be on this old ship for 3 months, but now for better and for worse it is an adventurous home.
Cheers to all!
My last day was very fulfilling because I was assessing adult patients for back and knee pain (very common due to hard physical labor with few of the conveniences of first world countries) and, if not complicated by other medical conditions, giving them pain medication and teaching them strengthening and range of motion exercises. Whereas the patients at the countryside clinic brought us quantities of tropical fruits as gifts, the city patients brought us gifts of traditional necklaces and purses (bilum) carried by both men and women (see Flickr photos with bilum carried around the neck or used as a sling to carry a baby with the strap over the top of the head). The bilum colors and patterns signify the bearer’s tribe, and a few gift bilum were woven with possum fur. I was very honored to receive a unique necklace of shells with 2 boar tusks as pendants from a nurse who attended my back clinic (see Flickr photo). This necklace was declared the most impressive gift, and the men quickly developed tusk envy, even offering to trade a few bilum for the necklace. A unique gift from a nurse - no trade!!
I represented Project HOPE at the closing reception held on Cleveland’s flight deck for distinguished PNG visitors including government officials, business and civic leaders, and Australian military residents. It was a pleasant opportunity to talk to local residents about life in PNG since our liberty options on shore were limited to the Lae Yacht Club and the Melanesian Art Center (actually a cultural gift shop). Cleveland arranged with the Lae Yacht Club to allow a limited number of personnel to visit its gated facility during the last several days in port. A large covered deck overlooks a small marina (all power boats), and the galley and bar were open to purchase refreshments. A club member who owned one of the liberty boats hired by Cleveland to shuttle us to and from said that the wind is too light in the bay to interest most sailors. We did see a few locals sailing tiny outriggers, but I forgot my camera that day L so no photos to show you. The craft center was packed full of interesting masks, statues, jewelry, bilum, paintings, carvings, drums, etc. from various tribes and provinces in PNG. Sadly no photos of the center to share but I have photos of the pieces that I bought (see Flickr).
Our liberty port of Darwin, Australia is 5 days away, and there we’ll be saying farewell to the Canadian dental team and most of the Aussies who’ve been aboard for the first 2 rotations, as well as Army reservists and 4 HOPEies who joined us for the 2nd rotation. We’ll be joined by their replacements for the final mission rotation to Timor Leste and Micronesia. While in Darwin I'll be going on an organized day tour to Litchfield National Park, and plan to visit one or both yacht clubs in Darwin. My liberty buddy to the clubs (a requirement to go ashore in a liberty port) also owns a sailboat so we're hoping to catch a ride on a boat with a club member. It’s hard to believe that I’m at the half-way point of my trip and 2/3 through the medical mission. During the first 3 weeks I questioned my sanity for volunteering to be on this old ship for 3 months, but now for better and for worse it is an adventurous home.
Cheers to all!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Betel juice
24 May. Lae, PNG. Finally went ashore in PNG to work. Like many industrial ports, the area around the docks is rough and certainly not scenic. The country-side really is beautiful - lush, green, very high mountains, most of which are tree-covered. However, some of the ranges are green but have no trees, perhaps more recent volcanic ranges. The cloud formations hanging over the mountains add a dramatic effect. The rain showers offer many opportunities for rainbow sightings.
The people are very nice and friendly. But it’s very poor. It’s a 1-hour bus ride on the Lae Highway to the Wampar Clinic. There are many roadside market stands, and although there is bus service, there is a near constant stream of people walking along the side of the road. We travel the roads in a convoy with armed national defense and local security. An American woman confirmed how unsafe it is in this area - armed robberies, carjackings, roadblocks set up by armed thugs. The reports of violent crime seem such a contrast to the smiling, waving throngs yelling “Hi” and flashing us the index finger (meaning we‘re #1 good). I watched a video of the Opening Ceremony made by one of our attendees and noted that the ceremonial dancing in PNG is much more primitive/less refined than the dancing in Tonga and Hawaii. The traditional dress is interesting and rather minimal - the women are topless (and the effects of gravity are obvious) and the men’s loincloths are skimpy.
The Wampar Clinic has 2 small buildings, which we augment with 5 MASH-type tents. The people do hard manual labor, so most of the adults have complaints of back and knee pain along with other medical conditions. Malaria and tuberculosis are not uncommon. Some children have serious hearing loss due to untreated ear infections. Dental hygiene is minimal, so the dental team is busy with extractions. The teeth of many adults are a bizarre red color due to chewing betel nut (do you remember “Bloody Mary” from Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific?). The darkest teeth I saw were the color of red beets! The betel quid that they chew is a mix of betel nut, mustard stick (a type of pepper plant), and powdered lime produced from coral. It’s a stimulant, stress reducer, and hunger suppressant. We saw a man on the roadside spit a giant red stream during our return bus ride - yuck, betel juice!! But they also grow healthy tropical fruits, and the patients bring us delicious coconuts, papayas, lychees, bananas, guavas, oranges, and sugar cane. Our work days are unbelievably hot and humid, and after seeing over 900 patients/day we are totally drained. But some of our Aussie colleagues, ever the party animals, turn on tunes on their iPhones and entertain us with sing-alongs on the return bus ride. Our day-on/day-off schedules are paced, and we’re encouraged to rejuvenate on our day-off (meaning do your laundry and take a nap). We had a treat the other night when we couldn't return to Cleveland by the LCU and they brought us back on the 2 RIBs (rigid-hulled inflatable boats) - what a blast, those puppies fly through the water! The wild wind on our faces was a huge relief from a very hot, sweaty day.
Cheers to all!
The people are very nice and friendly. But it’s very poor. It’s a 1-hour bus ride on the Lae Highway to the Wampar Clinic. There are many roadside market stands, and although there is bus service, there is a near constant stream of people walking along the side of the road. We travel the roads in a convoy with armed national defense and local security. An American woman confirmed how unsafe it is in this area - armed robberies, carjackings, roadblocks set up by armed thugs. The reports of violent crime seem such a contrast to the smiling, waving throngs yelling “Hi” and flashing us the index finger (meaning we‘re #1 good). I watched a video of the Opening Ceremony made by one of our attendees and noted that the ceremonial dancing in PNG is much more primitive/less refined than the dancing in Tonga and Hawaii. The traditional dress is interesting and rather minimal - the women are topless (and the effects of gravity are obvious) and the men’s loincloths are skimpy.
The Wampar Clinic has 2 small buildings, which we augment with 5 MASH-type tents. The people do hard manual labor, so most of the adults have complaints of back and knee pain along with other medical conditions. Malaria and tuberculosis are not uncommon. Some children have serious hearing loss due to untreated ear infections. Dental hygiene is minimal, so the dental team is busy with extractions. The teeth of many adults are a bizarre red color due to chewing betel nut (do you remember “Bloody Mary” from Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific?). The darkest teeth I saw were the color of red beets! The betel quid that they chew is a mix of betel nut, mustard stick (a type of pepper plant), and powdered lime produced from coral. It’s a stimulant, stress reducer, and hunger suppressant. We saw a man on the roadside spit a giant red stream during our return bus ride - yuck, betel juice!! But they also grow healthy tropical fruits, and the patients bring us delicious coconuts, papayas, lychees, bananas, guavas, oranges, and sugar cane. Our work days are unbelievably hot and humid, and after seeing over 900 patients/day we are totally drained. But some of our Aussie colleagues, ever the party animals, turn on tunes on their iPhones and entertain us with sing-alongs on the return bus ride. Our day-on/day-off schedules are paced, and we’re encouraged to rejuvenate on our day-off (meaning do your laundry and take a nap). We had a treat the other night when we couldn't return to Cleveland by the LCU and they brought us back on the 2 RIBs (rigid-hulled inflatable boats) - what a blast, those puppies fly through the water! The wild wind on our faces was a huge relief from a very hot, sweaty day.
Cheers to all!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Lae, PNG Harbor
20 May Lea, PNG. The 5-day passage to Lae, Papua New Guinea (PNG) went quickly (I mistakenly thought our destination would be Port Moresby). We kept busy by entering patient data from Tonga and Vanuatu into a computerized database, attending meetings (including a refresher session on wound care with emphasis on a condition called “Yawls” - lesions in children caused by an infectious tropical agent similar to syphilis), and packaging medications for the PNG mission. I had a tour of the ship’s bridge - the navigation and steering center. I assisted in the ship’s medical ward by assessing patients, giving injections, dressing minor wounds, and removing sutures. But there was also time for relaxation - movie night on the flight deck. Yes, they set up a giant screen on the flight deck and showed “Just Go With It”. When was the last time you watched a movie under silvery clouds (that gave us a brief shower) and a full moon lighting a silvery sea, steaming along at 12 knots? The ship celebrated the 103rd birthday of the Navy Nurse Corps, along with International Nurses Day. All of the nurses on board were proud to stand for speeches, pictures, and cutting of the cake with a ceremonial sword by the ship’s captain and the mission’s commodore.
We arrived at Lae on a rainy day with 0.5 mile visibility, which was considered unsafe for anchoring, so we circled outside of the anchorage for more than 24 hours before setting the hook on a beautiful clear morning. The port is busier than I expected, with numerous freighters present. The temperature and humidity today are lower than in previous ports so we’re encouraged that climatic conditions might be more tolerable for work here. The scenery in the harbor is beautiful - steep, rugged mountains with cloud-shrouded peaks (I was told that the tallest peak in PNG is 10,000 ft and gets snow). I’m imagining epiphytic orchids in the tree tops being kept cool and moist by the cloud cover. The ship’s liberty scouts visited a botanical garden today as a possible tour destination, but a tour there will not happen for various reasons. My contact told me that only a few orchids were in bloom - by his description probably Dendrobium - so I’m not as disappointed to not be able to visit as I might have been. My first work day isn’t until Sunday so I’m limited to the lovely harbor view until then. Some pictures will be on Flickr.
Cheers to all!
We arrived at Lae on a rainy day with 0.5 mile visibility, which was considered unsafe for anchoring, so we circled outside of the anchorage for more than 24 hours before setting the hook on a beautiful clear morning. The port is busier than I expected, with numerous freighters present. The temperature and humidity today are lower than in previous ports so we’re encouraged that climatic conditions might be more tolerable for work here. The scenery in the harbor is beautiful - steep, rugged mountains with cloud-shrouded peaks (I was told that the tallest peak in PNG is 10,000 ft and gets snow). I’m imagining epiphytic orchids in the tree tops being kept cool and moist by the cloud cover. The ship’s liberty scouts visited a botanical garden today as a possible tour destination, but a tour there will not happen for various reasons. My contact told me that only a few orchids were in bloom - by his description probably Dendrobium - so I’m not as disappointed to not be able to visit as I might have been. My first work day isn’t until Sunday so I’m limited to the lovely harbor view until then. Some pictures will be on Flickr.
Cheers to all!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
New Calédonie - très chic!
15 May somewhere between New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea. We had about 10 hours of rough seas during the passage from Vanuatu to New Caledonia (and apparently we were also nearly over the epicenter when the recent earthquake struck), so we were especially glad to reach our liberty port. Picture 2.5 days of French chic in the South Pacific. It’s a French colony of 300,000 residents on a path to independence, its residents are French citizens, and the official language is French. Nearly everything is expensive, and the food is magnifique. The downtown area of the capital city Noumea near the commercial port where we docked is a mix of shops, nice buildings and slums. It’s vibrant during the day but not a desirable area to be after dark. The ship had also arranged for frequent free bus service from early morning to late night to the lovely beach communities, so there were plenty of interesting places to go throughout the day and evening. I got a darling French haircut and hat, a few other stylish clothes within my meager budget, tasted gelato second only to our friend Massimo’s brand “Gelato Massimo”, and ate the most divine French pastries. Unable to stand another cup of the ship’s coffee, I bought a French press (here labeled a ‘coffee plunger‘) and some good coffee, and I’m gaining a fan club in the officer‘s mess. I enjoyed the city tour arranged by the ship, which also included a French wine and cheese tasting. The tour guide, one of only 17 Americans living in New Caledonia, pointed out the many reminders of WWII. The weather was a pleasant change from Tonga and Vanuatu - humid but cooler. Liberty in NC was good for the body and soul.
We said our good-byes in New Caledonia to personnel who had joined PP 11 for only the first rotation of the mission, and we were joined by fresh new faces for the next rotation. Three HOPE nurses arrived, plus a family practice physician and a pharmacist. They’re trying to get their sea legs during a rough start to the 5-day passage to Papua New Guinea (PNG). There is some apprehension about the upcoming mission as Port Moresby in PNG is considered by travelers to be one of the more dangerous places to visit, and we're unlikely to be allowed any liberty. A shame because there's a botanic garden with an large orchid section, and PNG is the center of the orchid universe. But we’re hoping that the humanitarian purpose of our visit affords us a peaceful time in PNG.
Cheers to all!
We said our good-byes in New Caledonia to personnel who had joined PP 11 for only the first rotation of the mission, and we were joined by fresh new faces for the next rotation. Three HOPE nurses arrived, plus a family practice physician and a pharmacist. They’re trying to get their sea legs during a rough start to the 5-day passage to Papua New Guinea (PNG). There is some apprehension about the upcoming mission as Port Moresby in PNG is considered by travelers to be one of the more dangerous places to visit, and we're unlikely to be allowed any liberty. A shame because there's a botanic garden with an large orchid section, and PNG is the center of the orchid universe. But we’re hoping that the humanitarian purpose of our visit affords us a peaceful time in PNG.
Cheers to all!
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