So THIS is how a floating hospital begins...

     At precisely 1600 (4 o'clock pm) today, the hospital aboard the Africa Mercy accepted its very first pre-op patients in the country of Guinea. As I type this in the mid-ship lounge, there are patients two decks below me. It's real. They are here...

     Now jump back approximately two days and eighteen hours, and you would see Pat and I bleary-eyed, preparing to depart the ship with over 150 crew mates before the sun had risen. We were headed for the People's Palace to participate in the largest healthcare feat I have ever witnessed.

Screening Day

      Those two little words come nowhere near to describing the mass amounts of coordination and organization and controlled chaos behind such an event. When we arrived at the People's Palace to set up at 6am, there was still no light. Imagine a building the size of a large convention center with 10% of the electricity and no working plumbing - this is where the Guinean congress meets, large plays are put on, and the screening of over 3,500 people was about to take place. 

     In no time, everyone went to work setting up countless chairs in various wings. Bays of tables were arranged, large stacks of water bottles and trays of pre made PB&J sandwiches were brought in, and as the sky outside the windows finally began to turn a slightly lighter shade of purple, we looked out at the line. I have now put this picture everywhere possible, but I can't help it. This sight was the most heart stopping thing I have ever seen, because I knew it was all headed our way.

     People had apparently begun lining up overnight hoping to be among the first seen. The line snaked in front of the palace's huge courtyard, through the main gates and out to the street beyond sight. Inside, we still scrambled for our places, preparing each designated zone to be the picture of efficiency. Patients would first be seen in line by Pre-screeners, who ensure that only potential surgery candidates make it inside. [Due to the specific care provided by Mercy Ships, no medical patients can be accepted. That means anyone wanting to be seen for things like high blood pressure, liver disease, malignant cancers, etc] 

     Once inside, they would be processed through Registration. Then, on to my station, Patient Histories.  After this, we would send them to a wing corresponding with their specific need: Ortho, Plastics, General, and Maxillo-Facial. Here, the extremely dedicated Physicians and their teams would do the actual physical assessments and determine a) if they were candidates for surgery and b) how urgent their case was. With this information on their paperwork, down to Scheduling they would go. There, the final team had the dizzying task of fitting everyone into operating slots over the next ten months. Patients would then depart, armed with a card telling them their date to arrive at the ship for their surgery. A literal Golden Ticket :)

     It sounds really simple now that I've just typed it out, but this was the most elaborate, choreographed event I have ever witnessed. Escorts ferried people to and from stations, volunteers passed out nourishment to patients who had been standing in line for hours, security joined with local police to ensure everyone's safety. And the people just kept coming. At times I would look up from my table and current patient to eyeball the waiting area that never seemed to shrink, and just inhale deeply. Fifty chairs were lined up in front of our station alone, and when it was one person's turn to get up, their spot wasn't vacated for long. The closest thing I can compare it to was the inside of a watch: so many moving pieces, so many connecting cogs. And somehow it all worked!

     This means we now have the blueprint. In one day this whole endeavor went from being the plans for a hospital to a suddenly tangible reality. We're no longer talking about "the people of Guinea" from across the ocean. These patients have faces, they have ID numbers, they have surgery dates. 

They're downstairs...

     Pat and I went down to the wards last night to take pictures before patients arrived, just some goofy fun! How does a room lined with beds and equipment turn into a place of hope and healing? Tomorrow we find out :)