Auckland-based anaesthesist Dr Rebecca Brinkler came away from volunteering on board the Africa Mercy with some surprise areas of professional development, and a few highlights that she never expected. She describes her work, her cases, and the dedication to build local medical capacity.
Read about her tour-of-duty with Mercy Ships in Senegal here NZSA magazine Mercy Ships Article_August 2022
Episode 8: Taking the Helm
The volunteer medics continue to treat extraordinary cases of medical need. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michelle White travels to Lakossa to help train Beninese medics. Physiotherapist Nick Veltjens mentors local physiotherapist Melchior in the Ponseti method of treating club feet. Featured patients include Howefassi – a woman with a large and complex neck tumour that tests surgeon Mark Shrime to his limits, Baby Joanes – a clubfoot patient treated by the Ponseti team, and Baby Riana – a girl with a rare disease called arthro-gryposis that can only be partially treated on the ship.
More coming soon.
Episode 7: On the Frontline
Mel and the volunteer medics continue to select and treat extraordinary cases of medical need. Featured patients include Rachidi – a teenage boy with a severe burn left untreated for 14 years, Clement – a local paediatrician who has been unable to work since a failed reconstructive surgery left his mouth disfigured, and Juvincia – a young malnourished girl with severely deformed legs due to rickets.
More coming soon.
Episode 6: The Long Road Home
The volunteer medics continue to treat extraordinary cases of medical need. The screening team travels upcountry to remote areas of Benin to find patients who need help. Featured patients include Faith – a young girl from Kandi with severe bilateral bowed legs, Jonas from Ghana who had surgery on the ship 10 years earlier but his facial tumour has grown back, and Thierry – a mechanic from Parakou whose life-saving surgery turns out to be just the beginning of a dramatic journey of healing.
More coming soon.
Episode 5: Blood and Water
The volunteer medics continue to treat extraordinary cases of medical need. Featured patients include Maimouna – a 17 year old girl with a facial tumour which the ship operated on 4 years ago, but has now returned. Ignace – a teenage boy with a neurofibroma tumour which covers half his face, and Nanjire & Nadire – twin girls with identical bowed legs. Maimouna’s journey to the ship is dramatic as ship doctor Nerida, who operated on Maimouna 4 years ago, travels to Guinea which has only recently been cleared of Ebola to find Maimouna and bring her to the ship for critical surgery. Lighter moments are told in the twin girls Nanjyra & Nadire.
More coming soon.
Episode 4: Gods and Monsters
Lindsay and the other volunteer medics continue to treat extraordinary cases of medical need. Featured patients include Ramani – a devout Muslim man with a mysterious bone and tissue growth abnormality that deforms his face, Elizabeth – a 20 year old girl with a huge facial tumour her family believe is a voodoo curse, Viviane – a mother of 6 with a tumour of the manible, and Elie – a young Christian boy with gigantism. This episode explores cultural and religious factors that accompany the patient stories.
More coming soon.
Episode 3: Sea Change
The volunteer medics continue to select and treat extraordinary cases of medical need. Featured patients include baby Prunel – a young baby with a cleft lip whose mother has been ostracised because of her child’s ‘curse’, Baby Bignon – another baby this time with both a cleft lip and palate who is dangerously malnourished, and Barthelimy – a man with a large facial tumour.
More coming soon.
Episode 2: Skin Deep
The volunteer medics continue to select and treat extraordinary cases of medical need. Featured patients include Ruth & Marina – two 5-year-old burns victims who become best friends on the ship, Miracle – a young boy with disfigured hands who longs to play drums like his father, and Innocent – a local barber who has transformational surgery to remove multiple tumours from his face and body, only to suffer a near-fatal setback.
More coming soon.
Episode 1: The Power of Yes and No
The hospital ship arrives in port Cotonou, Benin. The volunteer medics on board commence screening, surgeries are planned and the first patients begin treatment. Nate and the team face mounting unrest in the crowd of thousands outside the screening centre and life or death decisions for the hopefuls inside. Featured patients include Julien – a young man with an enormous facial tumour that puts him in imminent danger of suffocation, Michel – a young boy who is initially turned away but in a dramatic turnaround is brought back to the ship for surgery, and Baby Patricia – a child with a cleft lip.
More coming soon.
