Svet Lineham introduced Hannah Newell. Hannah is a 27 year old theatre nurse at SW Healthcare. She grew up in Ballarat, did 3 years of nurse training at Geelong and has now lived in Warrnambool for 7 years. At the end of last year Hannah spent 4 weeks volunteering with Mercy Ships in Madagascar.

Hannah said Mercy Ships is a non-governmental organisation that provides free surgeries to those  who are less fortunate than us, who do not have access to healthcare or cannot afford it.  Hannah was on a hospital ship called the Africa Mercy. She said it was like a mini city, with 7 decks to house state-of-the-art hospital and cabins for 400 crew. There was a dining room, library, shop, bank, hairdresser, school for primary and secondary age children, a gym, laundry facilities, a pool, a large conference room and much more. The ship was docked at Tamatave, Madagascar. Patients travel from all over the country to see if they can be helped. The ship usually spends 10 months of the year docked in one port and the other 2 months in dry dock for maintenance.

Hannah said when she initially volunteered, the ship was going to Benin, but due to the ebola situation in West Africa, that was cancelled.

The hospital on board the ship has 5 operating rooms, a recovery room, sterilising department, 82 patient beds, ICU, X-ray, a CT machine, laboratory for doing blood tests, a pharmacy and laundry.

All blood was donated by the crew, as they did not have the facilities to store blood. 

Volunteer surgeons perform surgeries such as cleft lip and palate repairs, plastic reconstruction work for severe burn-related injuries, hernia repairs, club foot, bow legs, eye operations, dental care, etc.

Everyone on board volunteers, so in the theatre the surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses have all paid their own way.

Hannah said during her time on ship she would work Monday to Friday, 8 am – 5.30 pm with half an hour for lunch. Each night 3 nursing staff would be on call.

Initial screening of patients in Madagascar takes place in a city building.  People go through 4 screening- points before being admitted on to the ship.  At any of these points, they could be told they cannot be helped and would be turned away. Hannah said this was the difficult and sad part of the process. Each patient who is admitted to hospital, is allowed one caregiver on the ship, who will sleep on a mattress on the floor under the patients bed.

Funding that keeps Mercy Ships running comes from regular donors – individuals, organisations, companies, churches, clubs, schools and bequests, and is not only used  for medical aid, but trains the local people to be doctors, nurses, healthcare, sets up agriculture programs, helps with clean water and sanitation.

Hannah said she enjoyed her time on board and would consider returning again.