Speaker 1: Have mercy. Mercy is what this episode of Love Someone
Speaker 1: is all about. Mercy Ships, to be more precise, giant
Speaker 1: floating hospitals that travel to the furthest reaches of the
Speaker 1: globe to bring medical care to some of the poorest
Speaker 1: communities and to those most in need. For over forty years,
Speaker 1: Mercy Ships has been changing lives, healing lives, saving lives,
Speaker 1: serving as a beacon of hope. They provide free medical
Speaker 1: procedures over one hundred thousand to date to those with
Speaker 1: no other access to medical care, aided by volunteers in
Speaker 1: the medical field and countless other professions who support the
Speaker 1: ship's operations the galley crew, housekeeping, hospitality, administration, education, and
Speaker 1: many many more areas. And what's really amazing is that
Speaker 1: it is all sustained by the generosity of volunteers and donors.
Speaker 1: Today we're going to take a deep dive into how, why,
Speaker 1: and where these high seas adventures take place. And to
Speaker 1: help me tell this tale, I'm being joined today by
Speaker 1: Carrie Peterson, vice president of Advancement at Mercy Ships. You
Speaker 1: have served with the organization, Kerry for how many years, well,
Speaker 1: on and off for probably thirty three years. I took
Speaker 1: a tenure break and I've been back for the last
Speaker 1: twenty two years. Wow, you have been helping to bring
Speaker 1: about some amazingly successful fundraising efforts by the organization. You've
Speaker 1: held several management positions during your time there, uh in finance,
Speaker 1: the on ship general manager. So you understand the ends
Speaker 1: and the outs of this beautiful, beautiful organization. But before
Speaker 1: we get to the adventures of our swashbuckling surgeons in
Speaker 1: the ship's crew, we're gonna send a ship to shore
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Speaker 1: is Carrie Peterson, who has been with Mercy Ships almost
Speaker 1: as long as Mercy Ships has been around, because they've
Speaker 1: been around like forty years right a little, and you've
Speaker 1: been on board and off board the ship, off and
Speaker 1: on for thirty two. So you got to come on
Speaker 1: board Mercy Ships when they were an infant, right as
Speaker 1: they were getting started. Tell us who our Mercy Ships.
Speaker 1: Give us the backstory and a little general overview of
Speaker 1: this amazing, amazing ministry that I want to shout from
Speaker 1: the rooftops. How proud. I am of the work carry
Speaker 1: that you guys do. It's changed so much over the years. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, basically we've been called to help people, and
Speaker 1: I think the original vision came from our founder Don
Speaker 1: Stevens when he was just a teenager having served in
Speaker 1: the Caribbean after a hurricane and seeing the devastation and
Speaker 1: getting the vision for having a ship that could come
Speaker 1: and provide aid and deliver relief supplies. And that was
Speaker 1: really where the dream started. It was many years later
Speaker 1: when it actually became a reality with our first ship,
Speaker 1: the Anaestosis. That would have been in seven the eight
Speaker 1: So just as I was graduating high school, the first
Speaker 1: ship was taking to the seas to go to the
Speaker 1: poorest of the poor. Well it didn't start that glamorously
Speaker 1: and actually and we graduated high school about the same time.
Speaker 1: But anyways, um, now in the first ship was bought.
Speaker 1: It was an old ocean liner that served in the
Speaker 1: Mediterranean and it was purchased for the price of one
Speaker 1: million dollars and converted that It took several years to
Speaker 1: convert it and make it into something that was usable.
Speaker 1: Back in the old days, we would have one hour
Speaker 1: of power a day, where we would go and buy
Speaker 1: a fifty gallon drum of fuel so that we could
Speaker 1: have power for one day. And we had volunteers chipping,
Speaker 1: rust and standing and trying to get the ship back
Speaker 1: in shape to be of service. And that ship was
Speaker 1: joined later by a couple of other ships, smaller ships,
Speaker 1: and it served, I believe, up until when it was
Speaker 1: replaced with the Africa Mercy, the ship that's now currently
Speaker 1: in service one hour a day to do all the work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if we had more time. There are so many
Speaker 1: other stories of having no heat or having no air
Speaker 1: conditioning in Africa and all the wonderful hardships that we
Speaker 1: had um and I really say that fondly because it
Speaker 1: was so many challenges, but it was a community of
Speaker 1: people that were we're called to be there to serve others,
Speaker 1: and we met the challenges together and it was it
Speaker 1: was just a wonderful time of community while we were
Speaker 1: able to serve so many other people. And now tell
Speaker 1: me what Mercy ships looks like. So Africa Mercy replaced
Speaker 1: the Anastosis back into only twelve and it has been
Speaker 1: serving in Africa. We have a crew of about four
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty people that's people from all walks of life,
Speaker 1: over forty different nations of crew that come and give
Speaker 1: themselves to volunteers. Some of them come for years, some
Speaker 1: of them come for months. We have teachers and engineers,
Speaker 1: and doctors and nurses and cooks, um We have an
Speaker 1: onboard academy for the families, for the children of the
Speaker 1: families so that they can go to school and the
Speaker 1: families can stay together as part of the community. And
Speaker 1: currently we are preparing to go back after COVID into
Speaker 1: Senegal starting in January of two and we are just
Speaker 1: so excited about being back doing what God has called
Speaker 1: us to do. So I know that you do amazing
Speaker 1: things on the ship, but I did not know until
Speaker 1: this past year when we started kind of working together
Speaker 1: the amazing things you do off the ship, which blew
Speaker 1: my mind because I think a lot of times when
Speaker 1: people go into a community and do good and then leave,
Speaker 1: sometimes it leaves a void. But what Mercy Ships does
Speaker 1: is you go into the community wherever you dock, and
Speaker 1: you set up clinics, and you teach the doctors and
Speaker 1: the nurses, and you work with the local population so
Speaker 1: that when your ship pulls out of port, the community
Speaker 1: is not just got healthier people who had surgeries or
Speaker 1: who had medical treatment, but the whole community is empowered. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's one of the amazing things about the model
Speaker 1: that we have, and we've been doing that for years,
Speaker 1: and honestly, for all of the bad that COVID has
Speaker 1: brought us, they're one of the blessings that it's really
Speaker 1: allowed us to focus in on finding new ways to
Speaker 1: expand that. So as during the season where the ship
Speaker 1: has not been able to serve in Africa, we still
Speaker 1: are able to find new and innovative ways to continue
Speaker 1: to help even more people on the ground. And I
Speaker 1: think that model is going to continue in years to come,
Speaker 1: so not only using the ship and all its resources
Speaker 1: and the training facilities, but you know, finding new ways
Speaker 1: to train even when the ship before the ship gets there,
Speaker 1: after the ship leaves. And as you know, we have
Speaker 1: a new ship, the Global Mercy, that we should be
Speaker 1: taking delivery of in the next sixty days, and that
Speaker 1: ship we got to design that from the ground up.
Speaker 1: Our other ships have all been refit for other uses,
Speaker 1: but this one we were able to design using all
Speaker 1: the experience we've had for the last forty years. In
Speaker 1: how to build a functioning hospital, but even more important,
Speaker 1: this one is built for training. We have simulation labs
Speaker 1: and training rooms, and that ours are designed so that
Speaker 1: we can be training local physicians and surgeons, so that
Speaker 1: long after we go, people are still receiving the help
Speaker 1: that they so desperately need. Carrie, tell our listeners how you, personally,
Speaker 1: more than thirty years ago, got involved with mercyships and
Speaker 1: why you keep coming back. Well, that's a complicated story
Speaker 1: because when I first joined, I was in the middle
Speaker 1: of my college experience and kind of a workaholic and
Speaker 1: was getting burned out between my work and going to school,
Speaker 1: more work than going to school, and I needed to
Speaker 1: take a break. And I had known Don Stevens, the founder,
Speaker 1: from several years before, and I asked if I could
Speaker 1: come and join, And I flew down to New Zealand
Speaker 1: and joined the ship down there, served with them for
Speaker 1: a little while. I think it was while I was single,
Speaker 1: and then I met my wife back home and she
Speaker 1: moved on board. We had our first son on board,
Speaker 1: so we served for a couple of years and then
Speaker 1: I left. I kind of finished my schooling and took
Speaker 1: a job consulting for ten years, and why I came
Speaker 1: back was simply because I knew that I knew that,
Speaker 1: I knew that this is what God wanted me to do,
Speaker 1: and that's why I'm still here today. And how many
Speaker 1: surgeries I mean, I know because of COVID it changed,
Speaker 1: But how many surgeries does the Mercy Ship typically do
Speaker 1: in a ten month time in a country? Well, I
Speaker 1: believe it's just over a thousand. So um I see,
Speaker 1: before COVID we had mentored a hundred and fifty healthcare professionals.
Speaker 1: There were a little over eighteen hundred surgical procedures, so
Speaker 1: some people have more than one procedure, but so it's
Speaker 1: probably about a thousand, little over a thousand patients. So
Speaker 1: we also trained about a little over twelve people in
Speaker 1: UM essential pain management, safe surgery, primary trauma care, anesthelia procedures,
Speaker 1: things like that. So that's part of our overall commitment.
Speaker 1: When we leave, we want the health care infrastructure to
Speaker 1: be so much stronger than before we got there. I
Speaker 1: think that's one of the things I love most, Carrie,
Speaker 1: is that you're you're not just going into a community
Speaker 1: or going into a country and doing good and leaving
Speaker 1: you're going in and changing lives and changing the whole
Speaker 1: healthcare paradigm. So even after you leave, you're still there.
Speaker 1: You're still impacting lives. You're still changing lives. You're still
Speaker 1: saving lives and blessing people and making communities stronger. Well,
Speaker 1: that is what we're called to do, alright, Arry, Now
Speaker 1: that we have a better understanding of what Mercy Ships
Speaker 1: is all about and how you got started, I'm going
Speaker 1: to share some incredible conversations here that I've had with
Speaker 1: a few of your volunteers. Their stories are amazing. So
Speaker 1: right now, let's listen to Rayanne. Rayanne share her story
Speaker 1: of why she chose Mercy Ships, she and her family
Speaker 1: and how that has changed the trajectory of their lives.
Speaker 1: Drane and her family joined Mercy Ships, I believe ran
Speaker 1: in the summer of twenty nineteen. Yes, that's correct. And
Speaker 1: how many of you went to live on the ship?
Speaker 1: Was it just you or was it the whole family?
Speaker 1: Our whole family went. We have three children, a son
Speaker 1: who is twelve, and we have twin daughters who will
Speaker 1: be fifteen in April. And your hobby went with what
Speaker 1: was your role on the ship and what was his
Speaker 1: so my husband was hired to be a chaplain on
Speaker 1: the ship, and when I first arrived, my role is
Speaker 1: the primary airgiver, so I had to make sure my
Speaker 1: children were taking care of first, and after that I
Speaker 1: worked in the communications department as the creative coordinator. But
Speaker 1: really my passion was to also do chaplaincy work with
Speaker 1: my husband, and come March of I was able to
Speaker 1: transfer over into the chaplaincy department and that's where I
Speaker 1: served for the rest of our time. And how long
Speaker 1: were you on board the ship? Not even an entire
Speaker 1: year because of the pandemic, So what what did you
Speaker 1: have to go through? What did you and Roger and
Speaker 1: the three kids go through in order to be a
Speaker 1: part of Mercy Ships for that year. Well, it was
Speaker 1: actually quite a long process. My husband started researching it
Speaker 1: for quite some time and he applied for his position
Speaker 1: and I want to say November of and then it
Speaker 1: was just a long process of interviews, background checks, references,
Speaker 1: and one of the hiccups was trying to find a
Speaker 1: space on the ship for our whole family to live in.
Speaker 1: What was how he doing that? He could just just say, oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, I want to go live on a ship.
Speaker 1: With my family. He was in law enforcement for almost
Speaker 1: twenty years and decided that he wanted to retire and
Speaker 1: perhaps go back into full time ministry, which he was
Speaker 1: doing prior to being with the police department, and he did.
Speaker 1: He tired from his job when we knew that we
Speaker 1: hadn't offer for Mercy ships. Tell me how this impacted
Speaker 1: your children. Our kids are incredible and they are total troopers.
Speaker 1: They all were in we went. Definitely the first couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, if not the first couple of months, there
Speaker 1: were lots of tears at night. You know, we miss
Speaker 1: our home, we miss our friends. It was difficult, but
Speaker 1: I told them, isn't it ironic? One when we left
Speaker 1: the ship, there was far more tears and they were
Speaker 1: devastated that we had to leave. They did not want
Speaker 1: to go, and they were radically impacted by this experience,
Speaker 1: mostly because their worldview was blown up, and not just
Speaker 1: because they were living in West Africa, but more so
Speaker 1: because we were living in a global community on the ship,
Speaker 1: where there's people from over forty different countries in the
Speaker 1: world living on the ship together. So their eyes were opened.
Speaker 1: So do you have a favorite story, something that just
Speaker 1: blew your mind? Maybe with one of the patients, with
Speaker 1: yourself or one of the kids, or or your hobby.
Speaker 1: What an amazing opportunity to be a pastor to people
Speaker 1: from over forty countries. Oh my goodness. I have so
Speaker 1: many stories that I share with you, but I think
Speaker 1: the one that really impacted me deeply was was March fourteenth,
Speaker 1: twenty when the ship went into lockdown and we were
Speaker 1: told that we were gonna conclude operations as soon as
Speaker 1: possible to be able to leave sent Ugal quickly, and
Speaker 1: Mercy Ships employees over two hundred of the local people
Speaker 1: to work on the ship while we're in country. Whe
Speaker 1: We call them day crew, and they are essential. There
Speaker 1: are translators, They help in the engine room, in the galley,
Speaker 1: in the hospital. They're very essential. But because we were
Speaker 1: going into lockdown, we couldn't have those day crew going
Speaker 1: home to their families at night and then coming back
Speaker 1: to the ship and risking any infections. So we asked
Speaker 1: over seventy of the day crew if they would stay
Speaker 1: in isolation with us, not returned to their home, and
Speaker 1: help us pack up until we were able to leave.
Speaker 1: Surprisingly enough, all of them said yes, and a couple
Speaker 1: of days later we were down on the docks saying
Speaker 1: goodbye to some of the crew that were flying back
Speaker 1: to their home countries. And I looked you up and
Speaker 1: I saw this one Senegalese man. His name is Mamballa,
Speaker 1: and he was one of our security guards who stood
Speaker 1: at the gate of our dock leading into the port
Speaker 1: to make sure we were safe. He monitored who came
Speaker 1: in and who came out. My daughters had got to
Speaker 1: know Mamballa a little bit because they would take the
Speaker 1: trash out each week for the academy and they had
Speaker 1: to go out into the court to do that, and
Speaker 1: so Mamballa would open the gate for them. And when
Speaker 1: we would leave to go into town to have dinner,
Speaker 1: and we would speak with Mambala. And on this day
Speaker 1: I saw him and I walked over to him and
Speaker 1: I had tears in my eyes, and I said, Mamballa,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for staying with us, thank you
Speaker 1: for helping us and staying for lockdown. And he looked
Speaker 1: at me and he said, oh, mom, you are my family.
Speaker 1: We are together. Of course I'll stay. And I was
Speaker 1: so impacted by this sentiment. And I learned that in Senegal,
Speaker 1: in their native language of wool Off. There is a
Speaker 1: phrase called Nokia book. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing
Speaker 1: that correctly, but it means we are together. And this
Speaker 1: is really a lifestyle for the Senegalese people, and I
Speaker 1: learned later that it's not really just unique to Senegal,
Speaker 1: but it's really the continent of Africa and the people.
Speaker 1: They believe that the whole is more important than the individual,
Speaker 1: and so it was really powerful for me to see
Speaker 1: someone sacrifice being with their family, the comfort of their
Speaker 1: own home and their bed and their food to lock
Speaker 1: down with us. And definitely, I think being in a
Speaker 1: culture that's very individualistic, like the one I grew up in,
Speaker 1: it just really impacted me and convicted me. Made me
Speaker 1: feel that I want to live my life considering other
Speaker 1: people as more important than myself, and I want to
Speaker 1: raise my children in such a way that they look
Speaker 1: at looks at others as more important than themselves and
Speaker 1: live their lives in a way that is self sacrificing
Speaker 1: like this man did and several of the other son
Speaker 1: Agal people did for us. I love that. It was
Speaker 1: amazing because Mumballa told me, he said, I will be
Speaker 1: here until you leave. And I have a video and
Speaker 1: a picture when our ship pulled away from the dock.
Speaker 1: The dock was completely empty and the only person that
Speaker 1: was there was Mumballa waving goodbye to us. M h
Speaker 1: and how soon before you go back? We'll go back
Speaker 1: as soon as we can. So I was going to
Speaker 1: say that I saw the project that you do. Is
Speaker 1: that our Point Hope, Point Hope, And we're hoping that
Speaker 1: we can team up with Mercy Ships because as you know,
Speaker 1: not only do they you know, they poured at different
Speaker 1: places in developing countries, but they teach the local doctors
Speaker 1: and nurses so that the work they do is sustainable
Speaker 1: and continues on after the ship pulls out of port.
Speaker 1: And we are so hoping that Point Hope can team
Speaker 1: up with Mercy Ships for some of that wonderful training
Speaker 1: and that goodness that they impart on the not just
Speaker 1: not just you know, the people that come on board
Speaker 1: the ship, but they impart goodness on the whole community forever. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: Oh that would be wonderful, It would be great. So
Speaker 1: that's what we're hoping for. But I just love what
Speaker 1: Mercy Ships and what they do, what they've done for decades.
Speaker 1: I I know several people who have been a part
Speaker 1: of it and who have traveled with them and who
Speaker 1: have made the two year commitment, and they all say,
Speaker 1: I am such a much better person, a different person
Speaker 1: because of what Mercy Ships in that community on board
Speaker 1: the ship brought into my life. So so proud of
Speaker 1: you guys. Well, thank you. It was it was such
Speaker 1: a privilege and that And honestly say, for the last
Speaker 1: ten months that we have been off the ship, my
Speaker 1: husband and I have been grieving. There is not a
Speaker 1: day that goes by that we don't more in that experience.
Speaker 1: And they're so devastated that it ended short for us. Well,
Speaker 1: God's got a plan, that is for sure. He wouldn't
Speaker 1: have broached it back early if he didn't have a plan. So, um,
Speaker 1: I've got your number and we're going to be in touch. Wonderful. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you, I'll talk to you soon, honey, God bless you,
Speaker 1: Thank you you too, Thank you, Rayanne. Now we're going
Speaker 1: to spend a little bit of time getting to know
Speaker 1: Marta and we're going to find out how Mercy Ships
Speaker 1: has helped Marta and how Marta has helped Mercy Ships
Speaker 1: and one very special special patient in particular, Hi, this
Speaker 1: is Marta. Hi Marta, this is Delilah. Thank you for
Speaker 1: agreeing to spend a little time talking about Mercy Ships
Speaker 1: with us. Oh my goodness, it is such an honor.
Speaker 1: I just I can't leave. I was even asked, so,
Speaker 1: how old were you, Martha when you decided to be
Speaker 1: a part of Mercy Ships. So when I was back
Speaker 1: in high school and thinking about being a nurse, my
Speaker 1: dad had kind of heard about Mercy Ships and he said,
Speaker 1: you know, there are lots of opportunities for missions, and
Speaker 1: so there's even a floating hospital out there. And I
Speaker 1: was like, what, that sounds so cool. And so that's
Speaker 1: when I first heard about Mercy Ships and kind of
Speaker 1: kept it in the back of my head. Right around
Speaker 1: after I had been working as a nurse for two years,
Speaker 1: sixty Minutes did a special on the Mercy Ships, and um,
Speaker 1: I remember watching that with my mom and just bawling,
Speaker 1: and I just knew, like, this is something that I
Speaker 1: need to do. So it was actually that night I
Speaker 1: printed the application and started the process, and then it
Speaker 1: was about a year from then when I actually landed
Speaker 1: on the ship. How long was the stint that you did?
Speaker 1: How long did you volunteer for Yeah, it was about
Speaker 1: seven months, so it was long enough that I had
Speaker 1: to quit my job and I really wanted to be
Speaker 1: on the ship from the start field service to the end.
Speaker 1: And that year was the first year in Mada Gascar,
Speaker 1: so it was a seven months spent. Was it transformative, Yeah, Delilah,
Speaker 1: it absolutely was. I really wanted to make a difference
Speaker 1: in love people. I was going to say, tell me
Speaker 1: about some Bonni. Yeah, he is the one patient for
Speaker 1: my time there that stands out the most. He arrived
Speaker 1: with a I think it ended up being a sixteen
Speaker 1: pound tumor on his base, and he was so weak
Speaker 1: he actually had to be carried for the whole journey.
Speaker 1: He lived. He loved way out in the boonies, like
Speaker 1: there were no roads they had. His grandson carried him
Speaker 1: for two days just to get to a road so
Speaker 1: they could ride a bus to the ship. The surgery
Speaker 1: was risky just because the tumor was so huge and
Speaker 1: his body was so so weak. So you know that
Speaker 1: doctor talks about, you know this this kind of a
Speaker 1: life threatening surgery. Are you sure you want to do this?
Speaker 1: And he said, like, I feel like I'm dead inside
Speaker 1: already from this tumor. It's worth the risk for me
Speaker 1: and I want to get this tumor removed. And so
Speaker 1: he went in for surgery and I think it was
Speaker 1: it was an all day surgery and he ended up
Speaker 1: meeting ten or eleven units of blood. It was amazing.
Speaker 1: I went out to dinner with some friends that night
Speaker 1: while he was having a surgery. And when I came back,
Speaker 1: I was walking up the steps into the ship and
Speaker 1: somebody yelled down the ramp at me, Marta. Some bunnies
Speaker 1: in surgery and he needs your blood. And I was like, what,
Speaker 1: Like they had run out of the units that they
Speaker 1: had stored for him, and so they were asking all
Speaker 1: the other A positive people to go um, don't get
Speaker 1: their blood. And so I went down into the lab
Speaker 1: and they drew it right away, and I mean they
Speaker 1: didn't even put it on a cooler. They took it
Speaker 1: right into the O R and gave it to him.
Speaker 1: And then this is the coolest part, Delilah. I went
Speaker 1: to bed that night um praying for him and wasn't
Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't know if he was going to
Speaker 1: make it through surgery. And woke up in the morning
Speaker 1: for my seven am shift and I walked in and
Speaker 1: he was my patient for the day. I got to
Speaker 1: take care of him. And um, when I went in
Speaker 1: for my shift, he was still to date it and
Speaker 1: on the ventilator, and I got to be the person
Speaker 1: to hold the mirror for him to see his face
Speaker 1: for the first time after that tumor was removed. And
Speaker 1: I just remember him laughing, like he looked at himself
Speaker 1: and he just laughed and he took his hand like
Speaker 1: kind of trying to touch where the tumor used to be,
Speaker 1: like not he wasn't used to having that face anymore.
Speaker 1: And um, yeah, he was just so so excited, and
Speaker 1: we were all crying, God, let you form this relationship
Speaker 1: before the surgery with somebody. Then he let you donate
Speaker 1: your own blood to save his life. And you got
Speaker 1: to be the nurse on duty when the big reveal,
Speaker 1: when he got to see himself afterwards. How cool is that?
Speaker 1: It's just amazing. I would love to go back someday.
Speaker 1: All right, God bless you Han, you too, Delilah. And
Speaker 1: now we're going to talk to Nate, a young man
Speaker 1: who is so excited. You can feel the excitement in
Speaker 1: his voice in his stories and his love for Mercy Ships. Hi, Delilah,
Speaker 1: tell me how you got started in this why Mercy Ships?
Speaker 1: How old were you when did you first say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to be a part of this. Well, it
Speaker 1: actually goes back Oh gosh, if I think about it,
Speaker 1: eighteen years ago, when I was eighteen years old. So
Speaker 1: I first introduced to Merseyships during a gap here, so
Speaker 1: at high school, not just not quite clear on where
Speaker 1: I wanted to go, what direction I wanted ahead in
Speaker 1: terms of a professional career. So I took a gap
Speaker 1: here and most of that year I spent volunteering with
Speaker 1: Mercy Ships. So I wasn't yet a medical professional, but
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of opportunities for people outside of
Speaker 1: the medical profession in Mercy Ships. So I volunteered at
Speaker 1: that point that was in two thousand three, and really
Speaker 1: just got my kind of not my first exposure to
Speaker 1: healthcare in developing worlds, but it really was one of
Speaker 1: the significant seeds that was planted in my mind about
Speaker 1: healthcare being a tangible way to help people that are
Speaker 1: suffering or that are in need. Okay, so you started
Speaker 1: at eighteen. How long did you spend during your first stint?
Speaker 1: I think it was about five and a half six
Speaker 1: months something like that, and part of that was spent
Speaker 1: on the ground in in Sierra Leone, which is a
Speaker 1: country in West Africa. So the ship at that time
Speaker 1: was sailed around a lot more than it does now.
Speaker 1: We were in Sierra Leone, and so really good experience
Speaker 1: for me to learn about about how our patients live essentially,
Speaker 1: um and that would prove to be very valuable for
Speaker 1: me in the future when I went on to work
Speaker 1: on our patient selection team and as a nurse and
Speaker 1: awards and other roles that I've had with the organization.
Speaker 1: So you came back, he decided to go to school,
Speaker 1: and what is your degree in? So, yeah, I've eventually
Speaker 1: found my way into nursing. So I have a bachelor's
Speaker 1: in science and nursing. And actually during nursing school, went
Speaker 1: back to the ship and volunteered for a summer in
Speaker 1: nursing school just to keep I guess my eyes on
Speaker 1: the prize about what got me interested in nursing in
Speaker 1: the first place. Um, And it did just that. And
Speaker 1: then I finished nursing school and worked for several years,
Speaker 1: almost five years in a burn intensive carrying it in
Speaker 1: California before going back to the ship finally as a
Speaker 1: nurse in two thousand and twelve, and I've mostly been
Speaker 1: a full time with mercery ships ever since two thousand twelves.
Speaker 1: Tell me, mate, one story, if you can can narrow
Speaker 1: a town to one, one experience, one story that you've
Speaker 1: had over the last eighteen years that was life changing,
Speaker 1: Like when I first went to West Africa. I was
Speaker 1: changed on a cellular level. My d n A was
Speaker 1: changed after I went on my first trip to Ghana. Um,
Speaker 1: tell me something that happened that you knew that you
Speaker 1: knew that you knew that this was the path that
Speaker 1: God wanted you on. Well, I think the one that
Speaker 1: comes to mind for me was it happened? I think
Speaker 1: it was two thousand and fifteen. Ship was docked in
Speaker 1: a port and Madagascar, and we happened to be there
Speaker 1: for two years in a row, which is unusual for us,
Speaker 1: But that was because the Ebola crisis was happening in
Speaker 1: West Africa, which we're just not quite well equipped for
Speaker 1: on our ship. So we were in Madagascar and I
Speaker 1: was on our Patients Selecting team at that time, which
Speaker 1: is the team that comes up with the strategy and
Speaker 1: then is responsible essentially to implement that strategy to recruit
Speaker 1: the patients that we do surgery for on the ship.
Speaker 1: And we raveled all around the country of Madagascar, which
Speaker 1: is beautiful by the way, and we went to this
Speaker 1: town about the highest bio diversity in the world by
Speaker 1: the way, absolutely beautiful. Yeah. So we we took this
Speaker 1: trip to this town kind of across the island actually,
Speaker 1: and we were there for two days holding a big
Speaker 1: pit and selection event which is just open to the public.
Speaker 1: Usually we would hold them at a hospital and just
Speaker 1: streams and streams that people would come to see us
Speaker 1: to see if there was something that we could do
Speaker 1: to help them. So, um, hundreds, if not thousands of
Speaker 1: people kind of come to these events, and this is
Speaker 1: the first time that they interact with Mercy Ships, and
Speaker 1: we're essentially doing kind of some triage and figuring out
Speaker 1: if there if we can help them on the ship.
Speaker 1: And so we were there for two days. It was
Speaker 1: a very busy two days. But on the second day
Speaker 1: I was the one doing the pre screen, so doing
Speaker 1: the very initial yes no, and the line had finally
Speaker 1: wound down and it was sort of just people were
Speaker 1: coming in in a trickle and um, I saw this
Speaker 1: woman coming towards me down the home, and as she
Speaker 1: got closer, I realized that she was holding a little
Speaker 1: child in her arms. And they got closer and then
Speaker 1: right in front of me, and this little child didn't
Speaker 1: have a shirt on, and there was just something kind
Speaker 1: of covering her neck and her upper torso and her
Speaker 1: upper arm. And as she began to talk, she explained
Speaker 1: that the child, who was about three years old, had
Speaker 1: been burned in an accidental skull burn in the kitchen
Speaker 1: about five months prior. So oddly enough, what I was
Speaker 1: looking at was a burn, but I didn't quite recognize
Speaker 1: it as such because it was had been untreated for
Speaker 1: that long, and so all my years in a burning,
Speaker 1: I had never really seen something quite like that, but
Speaker 1: this was highly infected. She was obviously in pain. She
Speaker 1: looked very frail, and to me it looked like she
Speaker 1: had lost weight I had assumed. She just looked very
Speaker 1: thin and very unhappy. And the mother explained what was
Speaker 1: going on. They hadn't been able to find care for her.
Speaker 1: And this is all happening in my heart sinking, because um,
Speaker 1: we have certain inclusion and exclusion criteria and a certain
Speaker 1: set of kind of a scope of practice that we
Speaker 1: have on the ship, whereas you know, not like a
Speaker 1: Level one trauma center in the in the States, because
Speaker 1: we don't have all the specialists, we don't have all
Speaker 1: the equipment needed for every kind of condition um and
Speaker 1: and this type of burn is not something that's with
Speaker 1: normally within our scope of practice. So my heart sank
Speaker 1: and I was holding back tears and let out some
Speaker 1: size because I was trying to figure out how to
Speaker 1: convey to this woman that we weren't going to be
Speaker 1: able to help her, which was going to be devastating
Speaker 1: for all of us. And so I just kept pausing.
Speaker 1: I couldn't figure and figure out how to formulate the words,
Speaker 1: and finally I went to one of my colleagues and said,
Speaker 1: I know this is outside of our scope of practice,
Speaker 1: but we need to call back to the ship and
Speaker 1: ask for an exception. And she agreed, and we called
Speaker 1: back and we got we fortunately got a positive answer,
Speaker 1: and they said, yes, bring her to the ship and
Speaker 1: we'll see if there's anything that we can do. So
Speaker 1: I got to go back to the mom and relay
Speaker 1: that to her and she was very excited, but they
Speaker 1: wanted to chat it over with the family, which they did,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day they decided um,
Speaker 1: they said yes, and we asked them to come back
Speaker 1: with us the next day to the ship because she
Speaker 1: really needed pretty urgent attention, and she met the medical
Speaker 1: teams on the ship got the care that she needed.
Speaker 1: She she really needed surgical debreement under general anesthesia for
Speaker 1: this burn because it was so it was beyond just uh,
Speaker 1: you know, cleaning up like you would have burned it
Speaker 1: might happen at home. And we gave her all the
Speaker 1: nutrition that she needed, got her all tuned up, and
Speaker 1: then a couple of weeks later she got a skin
Speaker 1: graft and soon enough she was kind of bouncing on
Speaker 1: the halls of the hospital, a plump and healthy three
Speaker 1: year old child again. And the story normally stops there
Speaker 1: for for most of our experiences in merceryships because we
Speaker 1: don't get to follow up long term with our patients
Speaker 1: in a lot of instances. But as I mentioned, we
Speaker 1: were in Madagascar two years in a row, and so
Speaker 1: the occurred in the first year. The second year we
Speaker 1: were there, we went back to this very same town.
Speaker 1: We did a two day patient selection event very similar
Speaker 1: to what we did the year before at a very
Speaker 1: similar time of day. On the second day, I was
Speaker 1: out pre screening and lo and behold, mom and daughter
Speaker 1: came walking down the same corridor, but this time she
Speaker 1: was not held in her mom's arms. She was almost
Speaker 1: skipping along beside her. And they huge smiles on their
Speaker 1: faces too, to basically say hi and to say thank
Speaker 1: you for what you have done. I'm just sitting here
Speaker 1: crying picturing this with you, and uh, we just had
Speaker 1: hugs and smiles all around. And then they invited us
Speaker 1: over to their their house to meet the family after
Speaker 1: our work day was done, and we we had taken
Speaker 1: orange soda and just celebrated. But yeah, it was one
Speaker 1: of the most special experiences of my life that I'll
Speaker 1: never forget. Oh my gosh, there's a there's a chance
Speaker 1: she may have died if it was left untreated. She
Speaker 1: was she was really that sick, um, and she could
Speaker 1: have died from stepsis or something like that. But at
Speaker 1: the very least without treatment, she would have been quite disabled,
Speaker 1: um and limited in her range of motion and things
Speaker 1: like that. So um, it's just an amazing privilege to
Speaker 1: be part of her story and to get to share
Speaker 1: that with her. I hang on to that story a
Speaker 1: lot when I'm having down days where I'm discouraged about
Speaker 1: things that we're working on and challenges that we're facing.
Speaker 1: So uh, it's stories like that that that keep me
Speaker 1: going and there, and there's just hundreds, if not thousands
Speaker 1: more like that. Um. We're we're so lucky in this
Speaker 1: organization because we get to see pretty quick results from
Speaker 1: the work that we put in. So UM, I know
Speaker 1: there's a lot of other development work out there that's
Speaker 1: equally as important, but they don't get that quite as
Speaker 1: immediate feedback as we do. So I feel I feel
Speaker 1: spoiled in that regard. Well, thank you for taking time
Speaker 1: Nate to talk with us, thank you for being with
Speaker 1: c ships. Mostly thank you for having such a tender heart,
Speaker 1: you know, such a such a beautiful heart, that that's
Speaker 1: your priority is blessing and touching and healing and loving
Speaker 1: because it's it's easy to talk about love as a concept,
Speaker 1: It's easy to talk about love as an emotion or
Speaker 1: a feeling. But what mercyships does is they truly show
Speaker 1: love in a tangible, life changing way. Yeah, you're exactly right,
Speaker 1: and that's that's one of the major things that I'm
Speaker 1: drawn to about this work is how practical and tangible
Speaker 1: it is. I mean that links back to really my
Speaker 1: age and year old experiences. I saw that. I saw that,
Speaker 1: and I was drawn to that. And again, I I
Speaker 1: have nothing really other than just a posture of gratitude
Speaker 1: that I get to be a part of this because
Speaker 1: I'm I feel a part of a whole thing. It's
Speaker 1: not it's certainly not a individual thing, but yeah, gratitude
Speaker 1: is my overall response. Carry you know, I cried when
Speaker 1: I really did. I cried when I talked to each
Speaker 1: of these amazing volunteers when we connected and they shared
Speaker 1: their heart, and I cry every time I listened to them.
Speaker 1: These stories helped me to visualize how absolutely life changing,
Speaker 1: not just for the patients, not just for the very
Speaker 1: very poor people in the communities that you are empowering,
Speaker 1: but for the volunteers that are on board the ships
Speaker 1: and how their lives are impacted. Yeah. So, as I
Speaker 1: told you, as we talked about before, we have some
Speaker 1: amazing people who are called together to be a part
Speaker 1: of this wonderful work that we're so privileged to be
Speaker 1: a part of. I think that as I look back
Speaker 1: on all these years and all the amazing transformations that
Speaker 1: I've seen, and I have my own stories of of people, individuals,
Speaker 1: pays that have really touched my heart and changed my life.
Speaker 1: But when I really look back at it, and people
Speaker 1: have asked me before about all these wonderful people that
Speaker 1: we get to serve and things like that, and why
Speaker 1: why I'm called here, And it would be great to
Speaker 1: say it's so I could help all these people, but
Speaker 1: I really believe it's because God wanted to change me
Speaker 1: and do it work in my life. And I see
Speaker 1: the impact of working with the volunteers, and that's what
Speaker 1: they say over and over again as I talked to them,
Speaker 1: and I know it's true in my own life as well,
Speaker 1: that being able to serve and to help other people
Speaker 1: has been more of a benefit to me than it
Speaker 1: probably has been to them. As I just see all
Speaker 1: of the good and form the relationships. I want to
Speaker 1: get a little more information carried before I let you go,
Speaker 1: but I need to star up here for a moment
Speaker 1: and say a few words about one of our podcast sponsors,
Speaker 1: this episode's podcast sponsor, without whom we wouldn't be able
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Speaker 1: dot com slash love for off. That's Young Woodworkers dot
Speaker 1: com slash love for off. Alright, Carrie, it's your turn again.
Speaker 1: Before I let you go, please let our listeners have
Speaker 1: all the information they need so that they can contact
Speaker 1: you and get involved with Mercy Ships. It takes all kinds,
Speaker 1: you know. We have teachers, we have cooks, engineers. We
Speaker 1: need all kinds to join together to be part of
Speaker 1: this global community. Of people with a heart to serve others.
Speaker 1: And it's not hard. We've got a new ship coming.
Speaker 1: We need volunteers, we need support, we need people to pray,
Speaker 1: we need people to give, We need people to go.
Speaker 1: And it's quite simple that can just go to Mercy
Speaker 1: Ships dot org slash love and they're on the website.
Speaker 1: They'll be able to see how they might want to
Speaker 1: be a part. Pray, give, go first and foremost. We
Speaker 1: need to be in prayer that God would just have
Speaker 1: his hand upon the Mercy Ships and everybody involved. Give
Speaker 1: if you can donate, you know it's not cheap running
Speaker 1: a floating hospital. And go if you can volunteer, if
Speaker 1: you're an electrician and engineer, a plumber, pastor a teacher,
Speaker 1: somebody that can can wash sheets, whatever it is. I
Speaker 1: know that there is a place for you to be
Speaker 1: a blessing to others. Yea, and in the blessing will
Speaker 1: be theirs and ours. Carrie, it was awesome for you
Speaker 1: to join me. We're trying our best. I'm trying my
Speaker 1: best every day on the show to get the word
Speaker 1: out about Mercy Ships. The work they do, it is
Speaker 1: almost incomprehensible until I went to West Africa. Myself, I
Speaker 1: had no idea the disparity between what we have access
Speaker 1: to and what a large part of the world's population
Speaker 1: has no access to. The volunteers brought it to life
Speaker 1: for us. Talked about how rewarding serving aboard one of
Speaker 1: these floating hospitals can be. Um if you, my listener,
Speaker 1: if you have some time and a skill that you
Speaker 1: can share. As Carry said, they need volunteers of all kinds,
Speaker 1: not just medical professionals. If you're inspired by the Mercy
Speaker 1: Ships story, maybe you're a photographer, Maybe you want to
Speaker 1: do videos, maybe I don't know, maybe you want to cook.
Speaker 1: There are just so many ways you can help, and
Speaker 1: of course donations are desperately needed, especially as this new
Speaker 1: ship comes online. Your prayers, your blessings are the most important.
Speaker 1: If you want information, as Carry said, visit Mercy Ships
Speaker 1: dot org. Mercy Ships dot org. You'll find all the information.
Speaker 1: You can fill out the forms, you can get involved
Speaker 1: in any way you wish. Thank you for joining me
Speaker 1: here on Love Someone. We have a new podcast the
Speaker 1: second and fourth Tuesday of each month, and of course
Speaker 1: join me on the air live every night. Carrie Lord,
Speaker 1: bless you, Thank you, Jolilah, it's been wonderful talking to you.