Follow along with me as I travel to Sierra Leone to work onboard the Global Mercy Ship as a ward nurse.
*Disclaimer*
All posts below are personal thoughts and experiences regarding my time with Mercy Ships and does not represent the company itself.
Ruth
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This is about a patient girl named Ruth.
This strong, sassy teenage girl who stole all our hearts. She was one of the first patients I took care of during this field service and poor girl has been put through the ringer. For all her time on the ward, she has always been strong willed and loving towards the nurses. She's still is a teenage girl mind you. Sometimes I'd come on shift, and she'd be "mad" at me, or giving me side-eye. Then write me notes or songs, and want to hug and hold hands. She'd get jealous of spending time or playing games with other patients. My goodness! The exhausting emotions to be a labile teenage girl again!
Ruth and her mom prior to admission
Ruth's legs getting wrapped by Rehab
But in the end, she had a little sign by her bed where she wrote the names of her 3 nurse BFF's. And I was one of them! AH! How cool am I?! hahahah I now maybe understand a small part of when parents are finally cool to their kids. Why I care that I'm cool to Ruth is beyond me. But it was a sweet kind gesture and made me feel like I'm actually connecting to these kids, and maybe making a difference in their hardships here.
Ruth and girl gang!
She wrote me a valentine on Valentines day, gave me a sorry note one day when she was mad, wrote me a goodbye note when I left, and has a million silly filter photos on her phone she took of us during my time. I'm sad I won't be able to see her full course of treatment, or be there for her when she walks or discharges, but I'm happy to know she's in good hands with my fellow crew mates who love her as much as I do.
Ruth laughing at our dancing during Veranda time
The salone song Ruth assigned to me and we'd dance to!
Hebrews 12:12-13 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Mostly it's been all orientation stuff. New crew orientation, ward orientation, ship orientation, and just getting my bearings. Like I said in my previous post, there was a huge group of us who just got on board and are all learning together, which is nice! I don't feel so new and so alone. Everyone has been great and super friendly. I will be working as a ward nurse in C-Ward, the pediatric orthopedics unit! To be honest, I'm a bit nervous. I've never really loved peds, and kids kinda freak me out, but maybe thats a good thing! Whenever I don't feel totally comfortable doing something, or feel "clunky" with a skill, I usually try to seek it out on the unit and do it over and over with another nurse. That way I don't feel so intimidated. The anxiety leading up to something I feel is always
Cool! Great! So I’m going to go volunteer in Africa for 2 months with Mercy Ships…what is a Mercy Ship? Mercy Ships is an international charity based organization that operates large non-governmental hospital ships staffed with volunteer professionals to bring hope and healing to developing nations. Since starting in 1978, Mercy Ships visited more than 73 developed and underdeveloped nations world wide, with a focus on countries in Africa. One of the main services Mercy Ships offers are lifesaving medical surgeries for families suffering from disfiguring, painful and preventable diseases. In other words, I will be working on a big floating hospital stationed off the coast of Africa! Patients come to the ship for their surgery and recovery; and from my understanding, I will be stationed as a ward nurse ON the ship. I will be volunteering onboard their newest ship, the Global Mercy. With 6 operating rooms, it weighs approximately 37,000 tons, is 174 meters in length, and staffs ov
And not the fun kind. I am officially medically cleared to travel to Africa! Got all my vaccinations in order; from typhoid, to yellow fever, hepatitis, Covid, tetanus and everything in between. Honestly, being a travel nurse definitely helped with that. I constantly need to get proof of immunity for my job through bloodwork and boosters, so I really only needed to pay for my typhoid and yellow fever vaccines. Which I STILL think was an absurd amount, $500 just for a yellow fever vaccine!? But according to them, it’s a one and done. So I never have to get yellow fever again. And I can continue to travel to Africa (which I technically already went to Morocco a few years ago unvaccinated so whoops)! Now just need to pick up my malaria and gastroenteritis pills and should be set for medical. All that’s left is packing, planning, flights, and transportation to be done within the next 31 days. And just add in my nightshift job, Christmas, new years, birthdays, and a little bit of fun an
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