MERCY SHIPS
Global Mercy is under construction in Tianjin, China
FEATURE
Hope and healing
A new vessel will buoy Mercy Ships’ mission to help people with little or no access to medical care. Anne Kalosh reports.
M
ercy Ships is about to more than double its capacity for providing free, life-changing surgeries to children and
adults in some of the world’s neediest countries.
Hospital ship Global Mercy is under construction in Tianjin, China. At 37,000gt, it will be much larger than Mercy Ships’ 16,752gt Africa Mercy. The new vessel will have six operating rooms compared to the fi ve on Africa Mercy, and 199 hospital beds, up from 78.
A big part of Mercy Ships’ mission is capacity-building in its host countries. To support this work, Global Mercy will be equipped with a simulation lab for training and mentoring in surgical skills.
Mercy Ships provides a wide range of surgeries, including fi xing cleft lips and palates, removing cataracts and tumors, correcting debilitating burn contractures and repairing obstetric fi stula. The charity serves the nations in greatest need.
During 2019, thousands of people in Guinea and Senegal were helped. There, crew and partners provided 1,819 free surgeries, and 1,227 local healthcare professionals received training in medical capacity-building programs. Surgeons, anesthesia providers, nurses, healthcare workers/brace-makers and dental students were mentored.
These services will increase substantially when the new ship arrives. Over its 50-year lifespan, Global Mercy is expected to have an impact on more than 150,000 lives.
seatrade-cruise.com
‘The cruise industry and Mercy Ships are making history,’ says Russ Holmes, director of corporate development. ‘Our partners within the industry – from suppliers to cruise lines – are extremely important to the pursuit of global healthcare sustainability through the launch of the fi rst ever purpose-built civilian hospital ship, the Global Mercy. We are still looking to partner with the cruise industry to launch the Global Mercy into service, which will more than double the impact of our programs.’
Cofounded 40 years ago by Don and Deyon Stephens, Mercy Ships depends on an all- volunteer crew. This includes everyone from the captain, chief offi cer, chief engineer and chief electrician to the bosun, carpenter, able seamen, HVACR engineers, electronics technician, engine hands, engine cadets, and safety and training offi cers.
All the surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, therapists and dieticians are volunteers. And so are the hotel services team, pursers, receptionists, housekeepers, chefs, baker, galley staff and dining room workers.
Because these volunteers live on the ship for stints of weeks or months, there’s also a school on board for their children. This requires a volunteer principal and teachers. Other positions needed include chaplain, hair stylist, crew physician and crew dental hygienist.
Global Mercy will have to recruit 641 crew, up from the 474 on Africa Mercy, so many more volunteers will be sought since both ships will be in service. There is a great need for people with shipboard
Volunteers with seafaring skills are needed. Here, second officer Eric Baliantz
Russ Holmes with a small patient on the deck of Africa Mercy
experience, particularly those with deck and technical skills.
Mercy Ships has a strong overlap with the cruise industry on the supplier side. Companies from the Global Mercy makers list include DVS, ABB, Alfa Laval, Assa Abloy, Caterpillar, Deltamarin, Evac, GF Piping, Jotun, Kone, Kongsberg, NAPA, Palfi nger and Viking.
And Mercy Ships’ global partners in the cruise sector include Seatrade Cruise Global, MSC Foundation, Cruise Lines International Association, Intercruises, SES Networks, Wärtsilä, Waveguide Communications, Lloyd’s Register, Hepburn BioCare, Northstar Engineers, Yamaha, MAN (for Africa Mercy), Intellian and SpecTec.
Mercy Ships was scheduled to have a strong presence at Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami in April.
Seatrade Cruise Review 113
PHOTOS: MERCY SHIPS
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