A question I often receive is: “How does Mercy Ships select the patients for surgery?”  Over the many years, various options have been developed, so we are not limited to one approach.  In the past, I would share an update when I served with Patient Selection Team. For example Pointe Noire, the Republic of Congo in 2013 over 7,300 persons (KRB 2191 Update) who I welcomed at the main gate.  From that day, those I connect most with, show me their appointment card with admission details.  I attempt to be there on the evening they move into our hospital wards.  They come to the ship over the nine months the hospital is open depending on what surgical specialty is needed.  I miss not being able to visit patients in the hospital wards in the evenings and Saturday afternoons, though with current restrictions on board that is not currently possible. 

Though we have other options for surgical patient selection.  To avoid people traveling far to one location and the vast majority coming with conditions that Mercy Ships are not able to help with, we are going out to the people.  In late 2013, I was asked to be the site commander for the patient selection in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo with persons who were pre-selected at hospitals and healthcare facilities (KRB 2193 Update) and later to Impfondo in the far north.  Then in 2015 in the city of Mahajanga, Madagascar, we traveled with MAF by air to avoid a long multiple-day road trip.  Even then close to 1,000 persons came (KRB 2205 Update). 

Before leaving the Africa Mercy in November 2019, I responded to a request from the team to have a senior leader join the team and I was scheduled for a week in St. Louis (Ndar) but I had to cancel due to a change in my departure date. This month, though I had the opportunity to join the Global Patient Selection Team in the nation of Senegal.  I freshened up a bit on my French language skills and some expressions in Wolof, the primary language spoken in Senegal.  I watched as people came and went, some left with a Ziploc bag with forms and appointment cards inside and others left without anything as we are not able to assist with their healing.  Though the people who were told “Je suis désolé.” (I’m sorry) we are not able to assist with surgery, these same people often thanked us as a team.  Though more developed than many of the nations of West Africa, Senegal still has people who don’t have access to the surgery needed for their healing. 
Photo:  The Patient Selection Team for Sangalkam

In Senegal, early one morning in a community called, Sangalkam, I saw a small group of people we brought inside the compound.  I was going around greeting them when I saw this mama with a bundle gently sitting on her lap.  She slowly revealed her baby girl – only one-month-old with a cleft lip.  When I came into our space for the selection and I told the team we have a baby girl with a cleft lip, great excitement as we see such little ones receiving their healing.  So when it was their turn the team asked the questions and took photos and the specialists on the ship received all of our information from a specially designed phone app.  Sadly the baby was losing weight even though the mama was committed to doing all she could.  They shared that we need to start soon with this little one.  So they set up meetings with the dietician for the infant feeding program and arrangements for mama and baby to check in at our HOPE Center near the port in Dakar.  They said we could give them directions, but I asked if I could take them and they said even better.  I met the papa briefly as he came to the patient selection site.  He spoke basic English which was helpful as I didn’t need a translator.  I could hear and sense his father’s heart for his little daughter and his wife.  Late the same week, I saw mama and baby girl for her first appointment with the hospital team – such a precious life. It will take time for her to gain enough weight to have surgery and so if not possible late this year the new ship, Global Mercy, will be back in Dakar to care for ones like this baby girl.  If you think of her, please lift a prayer. 

When the Global Mercy sails in January for Senegal and sets up, it will be the first opportunity to use the hospital on board.  Though the patients won’t all be from Senegal as government officials from Senegal and The Gambia wish for Mercy Ships to serve the people of both nations.  After my time in Senegal, I traveled with a small team to The Gambia for some initial assessments on how it will be possible to do the patient selection in the smallest nation within mainland Africa which is surrounded by Senegal except for its western coast on the Atlantic Ocean.  If selected, Mercy Ships will provide the transport to where the ship will be docked in Dakar. 

 

Prior to the announcement of no ship visit in 2023 to Liberia, we were in discussion on what would be best for Liberia and her 15 counties for surgical patient selection.  With the Ministry of Health and many great non-government organizations and charities working here, we would be able to find those patients in need of our surgical services. I am regularly asked by those needing surgery.  When possible and appropriate I would ask some questions to learn about their need.  Often they say they are waiting for Mercy Ships for surgery for conditions we can’t assist with.  So I would kindly share with them that ‘I don’t have any doctors who can do that type of surgery, I am sorry-o’.  Our core value #2 Love and Serve Others is sharing with them a ’no’.  For those persons with conditions regularly cared for by our onboard hospital, I would share that I have seen patients with similar conditions being able to receive surgery but one needs to meet with the team and the final answer comes from the volunteer surgeon.    

Photo: We are making the coordination for the selection in a town called Mbour.