27 June 2008
Hospital Ship Offers Treatment in Southeast Asia, Pacific
Bonds forged through interaction of hosts, multinational crew
Washington -- The augmented crew on the USNS Mercy’s four-month tour of Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific includes medical contingents from Australia, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Singapore joining forces with specialists from the U.S. Public Health Service and charities such as Project Hope and Operation Smile.
The floating hospital ship is currently in Vietnam’s port of Nha Trang offering state-of-the-art treatment for 10 days and bringing Vietnamese health care workers aboard in a unique collaboration. Not only are crew members treating patients onboard, they are conveying their professional expertise ashore through visits to schools, hospitals and orphanages.
Small utility boats ferry crew and patients between ship and shore. There are also two helicopters available for quick patient transfer and to deliver experts to patients in remote locations. So far 8,000 Vietnamese patients have been seen, including 1,500 who have had dental treatment -- some for the first time in their lives.
The Mercy has a full surgical ward with all necessary scanning equipment, a pediatric ward, complete dental facilities and a blood bank. Already 200 onboard surgeries have occurred, from cataracts to hysterectomies.
The ship is sailing as part of “Pacific Partnership 2008.” It is bringing together medical, dental and engineering teams and nongovernmental organizations from multiple nations to coordinate humanitarian and civic action programs in the Philippines -- the ship’s first stop -- as well as Vietnam, the island nations of Micronesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea.
Admiral Timothy Keating, who leads the U.S. Pacific Command, said the Mercy brings medical and dental care to those “who couldn’t otherwise avail themselves of this sort of treatment.” In the Philippines, the crew treated more than 26,000 patients and performed more than 300 operations.
The ship brings with it technology not always available locally, like CT scans. The crew includes veterinary specialists who have been able to treat ailing goats and water buffalo and vaccinate a variety of livestock.
Ralph Cossa, who is president of the nonprofit Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies in Honolulu, is familiar with the Mercy’s good works. He told America.gov such humanitarian operations are priceless. They provide invaluable cross-training, and offer nations “essential, often lifesaving or life-altering medical care that would otherwise be impossible to obtain.”
They also expose local populations to U.S. naval forces, cultivating a familiarity and receptivity that Cossa said “could come in handy in the event of future crises while building up a reservoir of goodwill.” For the other partnering nations, they promote better communications and more fluid operations among participating naval personnel.
Cossa said humanitarian missions like the Mercy's are “win-win in every sense of the word: They promote confidence and build trust.” Offering this kind of assistance leaves a lasting impression of American values and ideals, he said. “It underscores what is best about America.”
“This is the essence of American soft power,” Cossa said. “It enhances the image not only of the U.S. Navy and the military, but of America in general.”
PARTNERING FOR THE FUTURE
The tour is about forming partnerships with host and partner nations and NGOs. Vice Admiral Doug Crowder said the participants have learned they can both trust and help each other. The sum of their collective efforts produces a more productive outcome, said the commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet.
Navy Captain Jim Rice said there is great value is working together on a humanitarian basis when all is calm because it better prepares everyone to work together in the event of a natural disaster. “We will already know each other and be comfortable working together,” he said.
“By doing humanitarian missions,” Mercy Captain Robert Wiley said, “we are better prepared for disaster relief missions.”
Navy Captain William Kearns said there is lasting value in the people-to-people exchanges that are occurring, and medical-training benefits flow in all directions. Physical improvements that are being made to clinics and rehabilitation facilities also have residual benefits.
Kearns pointed out that technicians are repairing broken biomedical equipment, thereby increasing future health outreach. And then there is the plastic surgery that is repairing facial deformities under the auspices of Operation Smile.
The ship left its home port of San Diego on May 1. Project Hope spokesman Rand Walton told the San Diego Union-Tribune that putting its representatives on the Mercy offers the charity a chance to establish ties it hopes will be enduring.
The Mercy has another asset: the Pacific Fleet Band. It has been performing regularly during the hospital ship’s tour, helping pass time for people lined up for treatment.
