Speaker A
She's a floating hospital on the mightiest of missions, operating where few others dare to venture.
Africa Mercy, the world’s largest hospital ship, embarks on a mission to Togo, overcoming technical and natural challenges to deliver vital medical care.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
Generated from the transcript and can be wrong — check the timestamp.
Key Takeaways
- Africa Mercy provides critical medical services in underserved regions by bringing a fully equipped hospital ship.
- Technical and environmental challenges require the crew’s expertise and teamwork to ensure mission success.
- Security measures are essential due to risks like piracy in West African waters.
- The ship’s community of volunteers from diverse backgrounds is key to its operational and humanitarian efforts.
- The mission exemplifies how innovative solutions can address healthcare disparities in poor countries.
What the video covers
- Africa Mercy is the world’s largest charity hospital ship, operated by Mercy Ships, preparing for a 6-month mission in Togo, West Africa.
- The ship faces technical challenges, including engine troubles caused by clogged oil filters, which risk delaying departure.
- The crew must navigate dangerous weather conditions, including an approaching storm, while securing delicate medical equipment.
- Africa Mercy’s crew consists of 480 volunteers from 35 nationalities, including medical staff, engineers, and support personnel.
- The ship was originally a train ferry and was converted into a floating hospital with 78 beds and six operating theaters.
- Security training is conducted onboard to prepare the crew for potential pirate threats off the coast of West Africa.
- The medical team treats a wide range of conditions, from cataracts to life-threatening tumors, in regions with limited healthcare infrastructure.
- The ship’s journey includes resupplying in the Canary Islands before a 10-day voyage to Lome, Togo.
- The crew works under pressure to fix mechanical issues quickly to avoid sailing into severe weather.
- The mission highlights the combination of advanced medical care and humanitarian aid delivered in challenging environments.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Africa Mercy and its mission
- 01:58Preparing for departure and weather challenges
- 03:34Securing medical equipment for the voyage
- 05:38Africa Mercy as a floating hospital and community
- 07:15Pirate watch training and security preparations
- 08:43Engine problems and urgent repairs
- 10:41Final preparations and setting sail
- 12:29Challenges faced during the voyage and medical work
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
But in order to reach those who need her, the crew of Africa Mercy will have to outsmart touchy technology.
Speaker A
Go ahead, start up. Outmaneuver the forces of nature. We're just trying to get past this particular area before it hammers us and outwit human adversaries.
Speaker A
Pirate watch. Pirate watch. This is bridge over. It's a sweat-wrenching journey into the heart of Africa.
Speaker A
[Music] It's all hands on deck. And the cargo is aloft in Santa Cruz, Tenerife.
Speaker A
Africa Mercy, the world's biggest charity hospital ship, is gearing up for her next mission.
Speaker A
Confirming our port of destination is Lome, Togo. Lome, Togo. Over. After resupplying in the Canary Islands, she's ready to set sail on a 10-day voyage to Togo, one of the world's poorest countries.
Speaker A
Her crew, all of them volunteers, 52, will spend 6 months there saving and changing lives. Their work is funded entirely by private donations from around the world. We're taking a developed world hospital and taking it to places where they can use a little
Speaker A
extra help. And we wanted to arrive there all in one piece. Getting there in one piece means trying to avoid a major storm.
Speaker A
I'll just take a quick look here. It's blowing right into Captain Tim Dreaway's charted course. So, we're doing everything we can to finish our securing all our preparations and checklists so that we can get underway and on the voyage and hopefully pass to
Speaker A
the south of the system before it moves in. To avoid getting battered, they have to leave within 36 hours. But first, they need to test their engines. And that's hit a snag.
Speaker A
We have a few challenges down in the engine room at the moment. Unexpected challenges that are causing a big headache for chief engineer Andy Cole and his team.
Speaker A
Some metal particles on there. One of the ship's four diesel engines is giving them trouble.
Speaker A
We try to bring the oil pressure up to operating, the normal pressure, which is around 3 to 3.2 bar, and we can't raise the pressure. They're not sure why there's so little oil pressure or how long it will take to fix.
Speaker A
Oil pressure may be low, but blood pressure is rising for lead mechanic Dennis Sakalof.
Speaker A
Right now, we have problems with those engines, and we have to do it very fast.
Speaker A
We're in a rush because we have to start engines as soon as possible. The guys in the engine room aren't the only ones worrying about the storm.
Speaker A
Upstairs on the hospital deck, Chief Officer Mike Sans has to ensure that fragile equipment in the operating rooms is tied down tight.
Speaker A
If anything on this ship should get damaged during the sail, then in these rooms, the ship won't be able to do the surgeries that they need to do.
Speaker A
Some equipment is so delicate that even a tiny jolt on rough seas could put them out of commission. This is a microscope that the doctor uses for surgery.
Speaker A
He has to have that. Without that, he can't do surgery. So, here is O3.
Speaker A
Again, this is our X-ray machine. That's one piece of equipment that we definitely want to make sure does not go anywhere during the sail. If we lost that, we wouldn't be able to do the surgeries down in Togo.
Speaker A
[Music] In the galley, head chef Jesse Mitchell is also taking storm precautions and determined not to make the mistakes he made on the last voyage.
Speaker A
A lot of stuff ended up rolling out of the hallway and dumping over, and we had a huge mess to clean up. So, I'm trying to avoid that this time.
Speaker A
This ship is part of a global charity that started in 1978. The organization Mercy Ships has helped millions of poor people around the world. Africa Mercy has completed two missions to West Africa, but she didn't start out as a
Speaker A
hospital ship. She was originally built as a train ferry in Denmark. In 1999, she underwent an extreme conversion. The train deck was transformed into two new decks for a hospital with a 78-bed ward and six operating theaters and hundreds
Speaker A
of cabins for the crew. [Music] Two of her six engines were also reconfigured as generators to power the ship at the dock. This ship is a tool that we can bring into areas where you just don't have the infrastructure
Speaker A
that's needed. And it's a fantastic tool, a tool to help the poor. But Africa Mercy is also a floating community. 480 crew made up of 35 nationalities. We don't need to practice on Emma. Her feet are beautiful.
Speaker A
Surgeons, nurses, dentists, and their families work and live alongside sailors, engineers, cooks, and teachers.
Speaker A
For Brenda and Andy Cole and their family, Mercy Ships have been home for years.
Speaker A
These are our neighbors next door. They live next door with their daughter, Chanel. In 2008, nurse Ali Chandra quit her job to volunteer full-time aboard Africa Mercy.
Speaker A
After two previous missions to West Africa, she knows everyone will rely on that community spirit to get through the months ahead.
Speaker A
It's going to be tough. We have a lot of challenges ahead of us this outreach, but we have a phenomenal team of nurses from around the world. We have amazing hospital facilities, and we're ready to make a difference in Togo.
Speaker A
For the medical staff, the real work begins in Togo. But during the voyage, they'll pick up skills they didn't learn in med school.
Speaker A
Welcome to the pirate watch training. I appreciate all you guys signing up to come here for this.
Speaker A
Tracy Swope is a retired US Marine. Her experience in unstable regions like Lebanon and Iraq makes her a big asset as the ship's security chief. You need to verify that your radios are working.
Speaker A
Today, she's training aid workers to think like soldiers so they can help watch for pirates.
Speaker A
Instructions on how to use these are on here. And they're taught what to look for.
Speaker A
Is movement in the water from the ship we're concerned about to our ship and how to report suspicious vessels.
Speaker A
Ship on port side. Please scan the water between our ship and their ship. And they are not used to functioning security. They've come to reach out to the people. So, I have to have meetings like this to refocus their efforts on
Speaker A
what they need to be doing for security. They'll be safe on the first part of the voyage. But they'll have to keep a close lookout for pirates off the coast of Sierra Leone and Liberia, countries that have been ripped apart by
Speaker A
years of civil war. I just want everybody on the ship to understand no heroics if we ever have a pirate issue.
Speaker A
Any questions? But that worry is a week down the road. It's not a good sign.
Speaker A
Right now, the action is in the engine room where chief engineer Andy Cole and his team have discovered that the problem with engine number four is a badly clogged oil filter. Yeah, there's a little bit of metallic particles
Speaker A
collected on the magnetic filters. If I got serious buildup of magnetic particles, it means part of my engine is breaking up. So, it's not a good sign.
Speaker A
The filter is so dirty that they'll have to soak it for several days. Time they don't have. They have to fix it today or their ship will get caught in the eye of the storm, putting her delicate cargo at
Speaker A
risk. In the Canary Islands, the crew of Africa Mercy is trying to fix an engine problem so they can sail for Lome, Togo, where thousands of people are desperate for medical help.
Speaker A
They're having trouble with a badly plugged oil filter in engine number four. Oh, much that a batht lead mechanic Dennis Sakalof has worked in the engine room since Africa Mercy's first voyage as a hospital ship 4 years ago. He's Mr. Fix It.
Speaker A
He finds a spare filter that's been swapped out of another engine. It needs a scrub down, but it's not nearly as clogged as the other dirty filter.
Speaker A
I'm trying to do all my best to start engines and get out from here.
Speaker A
An hour later, engine number four has a clean filter. Okay, number one, go ahead. Start up.
Speaker A
And chief engineer Andy Cole prepares to test the engines. Engines three and four are up and running.
Speaker A
So, that's two of the four. And actually, I can see one and two are also running. So, we have four engines running. So far, so good.
Speaker A
There are bigger challenges ahead for Andy. But right now he's relieved. The ship can now leave on time, giving the captain a chance to avoid the worst of the storm.
Speaker A
And Captain Trethay doesn't waste any time. Roger. All clear. Apt. Thank you. He's ready to go.
Speaker A
[Applause] Engine's running nicely. It's like beautiful. I love those engines. I like my babies.
Speaker A
This is Africa Mercy. Good afternoon. Uh Africa Mercy has departed Santa Cruz. Destination Lume Togo over Lima Oscar Mike Echo over.
Speaker A
Slow ahead starboard. Slow ahead starboard. Great. Okay. With everything in the engine room under control for the moment, Andy turns his attention to the home front.
Speaker A
Where they going? They're going to go in this. The Cole family has lived in the ship's largest cabin for the last two missions.
Speaker A
On this one, they're downsizing. My daughter, Emma, um, she's, uh, essentially leaving home, but not leaving the ship. She's just moving a few decks down.
Speaker A
Emma's moving into a cabin with nine other young crew members. Kind of a dry run before college.
Speaker A
It's kind of like me moving on, like getting independent a bit early. So, It's going to be uh interesting.
Speaker A
Everyone hunkers down for the first night of the voyage. It's going to be a rough one.
Speaker A
A very large swell which is causing an uncomfortable roll for us. Uh we're rolling at times uh over 20 degrees on each side. So we've increased our patrols to the uh hospital area and where things are a little bit
Speaker A
vulnerable. Right now we're experiencing the worst seas that hopefully we'll see during the voyage. So as long as everything is in its place and hasn't moved, we're in good shape.
Speaker A
Africa Mercy wasn't designed to cut through big waves. She was built with a flat bottom and flat sides for maximum stability while loading trains.
Speaker A
Her square shape combined with a high center of buoyancy and a shallow draft make her snap upright quickly creating a rough ride for passengers and equipment.
Speaker A
I don't see anything moving. I kind of watch the load as as the ship rolls to starboard here.
Speaker A
Just after midnight, Tracy, the security boss, gets an urgent radio call. Roger that. I'm heading for the crane now.
Speaker A
A loose crane is trashing the ship's walls. Crane, it broke loose and became like trouble for us.
Speaker A
They have to find it. Find a way to secure it. A 30foot swell can do a lot of damage.
Speaker A
Now it's good. It's not going to go anywhere and test the most seasoned sailor.
Speaker A
That's quite a big waste even for me. Eventually would have come through the wall, so it's really important to latch that down.
Speaker A
The storm's full impact doesn't become obvious until morning. We have a little bit of a mess.
Speaker A
The galley is a disaster zone. Snow right in the corner on the bottom. I tied it last night cuz this branch was sliding up and down.
Speaker A
Oh, I feel pretty discouraged. We spent a lot of time tying down and after the sail up and everything fell, we thought we had it right this time. But it was a little bit rougher last night than on
Speaker A
the way up. So, we still lost a lot. We've got the workings of a really big pancake and we mix all the eggs and cream in here with all the flour that's dumped down in the bakery. We've got a
Speaker A
mess. As Africa Mercy sails into commerce seas, life slips into normal mode with schedules that feel a lot like home.
Speaker A
Again, give me some scale. School starts at the crack of eight. And there's three squares a day.
Speaker A
For tonight's dinner, Jesse cranks out a thousand slices of pizza. medical staff take advantage of their time at sea to plan for hectic months ahead.
Speaker A
I think one of the big things this year that they want to do is try and um have a better idea of what stock we're ordering and what supplies some of the meetings I was over the next 6 months in Tokco. They'll
Speaker A
treat thousands of patients with all kinds of problems from cataracts and club feet to lifethreatening tumors.
Speaker A
A lot of the surgery will be done by Dr. Gary Parker, who first jumped on board Mercy ships 23 years ago.
Speaker A
It's a a race that's going to go on for months and months. You can't go full out and stay up night and day because you'll never make it, which means in the end you'll help less people.
Speaker A
Once the race begins, there won't be much time for relaxing. So during the sail, everyone savors evenings on the bow. It's kind of the social spot outside. We all come out here and watch the sunset every night.
Speaker A
No one can afford to get too relaxed. Rapid response. We will start closing some of the fire doors in the vicinity.
Speaker A
Or all passengers and crew members must be fully prepared for any emergency. I was going to go down on this side down the steps of the car and set up on the act.
Speaker A
During the fire drill, everyone on board has to play for real. The crew has to practice dealing with the special hazards aboard a hospital ship. be advised you have placed in uh oxygen in that area.
Speaker A
The oxygen that we use for the surgery is normally that you know is used to save lives and in this case it becomes a huge hazard for us for the fire cuz the fire feeds off the oxygen.
Speaker A
Drills will continue throughout the mission to keep everyone sharp. Go ahead. Africa Mercy has covered almost 1,500 nautical miles in 7 days. She's now off the coast of Liberia.
Speaker A
Pirate watch. Prime territory for pirates. Tracy, the security chief, is on high alert because the bridge crew has spotted mysterious vessels that aren't showing up on radar.
Speaker A
Are they t Are they moving off or they staying in line? No, they're staying going in between two of them.
Speaker A
What I'm concerned about is as these ships, boats, small canoes, drift back that they do not have an outboard motor that would allow them to motor up to the back of our ship, throw a grappling hook on and come on.
Speaker A
Using small motorboats, pirates can outrun and outmaneuver Africa Mercy. What are you steering? Uh uh Harmon 0.
Speaker A
Let's come to uh 045. The third officer has a bad feeling about what's out there.
Speaker A
I can't even see though. It makes me a little bit nervous. The crew of Africa Mercy is on pirate watch off the coast of Liberia.
Speaker A
Okay, I've got the uh spotlight on. Several mysterious vessels are popping in and out of sight. It's not easiest to see out here. So, but they're not showing up on radar. A crew member brings new information from the upper deck.
Speaker A
We have six lights. The furthest brightest is to the right hand side. They're directly in front of us.
Speaker A
They are. As they get closer, they spot six vessels, not two. They got the bigger boats with the lights.
Speaker A
They can also see that they're not pirates, but unlit fishing canoes. So, they're not showing up on the radar at all. It is amazing that you can be 50, 60 miles out and there's just a little canoe with
Speaker A
a sail made out of rice sacks um out there fishing. They're a lot easier to spot by day.
Speaker A
Togo is now on the horizon. A country with 6 million people and only two hospitals, many residents have never seen a doctor, even when they're very sick.
Speaker A
Tokco is in the bottom 25 of the poorest nations on Earth. So you have as high as 50% of the population that will have no access to medical care, either financially or physically.
Speaker A
So, it's no wonder there's huge excitement in Togo about Africa Mercy's arrival. They're already uh heading out to meet us. So, our birth is ready. Uh they're anticipating our arrival.
Speaker A
To maneuver into port, the captain will need more engine power than he's used while cruising at sea.
Speaker A
They're about to bring on uh two more engines online. So, we'll have the four engines total.
Speaker A
We have four engines online, clutched in, looking good. But four engines are also a lot harder on the ship's cooling system than two.
Speaker A
We are not on full load yet. Once we'll get full load on the four engines, temperature will go up for sure.
Speaker A
It's a challenge to keep the engines from overheating because Africa Mercy was not built to operate in tropical seas.
Speaker A
This ship is ideally set up for for cool climates, cool water, you know, 5° uh sea water temperature as opposed to 30 which we have at the moment.
Speaker A
And a warm sea means hot engines. Sea water is pumped in and out of two giant coolers to absorb engine heat.
Speaker A
But the combination of tropical seawater and all four engines working to the max puts a lot of stress on those coolers.
Speaker A
If they can't keep up, the engines will overheat. And sure enough, the temperature is rising steadily in those coolers.
Speaker A
It's still creeping up. I feel myself that I going to go down to engine and blow on them just to cool them down.
Speaker A
In one of the coolers, the sea water is now over 70° C. That's 8° warmer than it should be.
Speaker A
Andy suspects that there's a bigger problem with the coolers than tropical temperatures alone. The temperatures are not leveling off.
Speaker A
If it doesn't happen soon, there's danger of engine failure. On the outside deck, everyone is eager to catch a glimpse of Togo.
Speaker A
It's very cool to uh after 10 days to be here. Nobody out here is aware of the drama down below.
Speaker A
Dennis can feel that the machinery in the engine room is getting hotter and hotter, a sure sign that the coolers are not working properly.
Speaker A
He has no choice but to open a giant bypass valve and get more sea water directly to the cooler that's overheating.
Speaker A
Problem is, opening this valve means starving the other cooler of water. Before long, temperatures in the second cooler start rising.
Speaker A
Cooling water coming up everywhere. I don't really like it. Yeah, we're on maximum cooling.
Speaker A
Yes, even AC. They're hoping to hang in just long enough to get to shore.
Speaker A
Sooner we get there, the better. As Africa Mercy closes in on the dock, the welcome party is creating some communication challenges, drowning out the captain who's trying to radio instructions to the bridge.
Speaker A
Right now, we've got the uh celebration going on and it's making it a little more difficult for us to do what we need to do up here. Bow to port.
Speaker A
So far, we're adapting and overcoming with the window. Stop the ball. [Music] [Music] Meanwhile, down in the engine room.
Speaker A
Maybe just cut it off for our We're hanging in there. 71.4. hanging in bring the LT down.
Speaker A
The coolers have hung in. Juggling coolers, but Andy has to figure out why they're causing more worries than usual and fast. The hospital can't run without them. Tomorrow, his team will open the coolers up and find a nasty surprise.
Speaker A
Africa Mercy is maneuvering to the dock in Lom Togo. She's right on time for a noisy arrival party.
Speaker A
[Music] The gang way touches down and the mission begins. For most of the crew, there's no time to celebrate. Starting now, everyone kicks into high gear.
Speaker A
Right now, we're um going 100% adrenaline. We're thinking of a thousand things of how to secure this um dock area. So, it's going to be a busy time for the next 24 hours.
Speaker A
Tracy ordered a security wall of cargo containers to be built in advance to separate Africa Mercy from the rest of the port.
Speaker A
It's one of the busiest in the region and ships and sailors come and go 24/7.
Speaker A
And just a few hundred meters away is the city of Lume itself and the frenetic bustle of 34 of a million people.
Speaker A
[Music] The crew wastes no time unloading and the transformation of Africa Mercy gets underway.
Speaker A
They have 7 days to turn a sailing ship into the most modern hospital in West Africa.
Speaker A
It's a massive task ahead of us. Okay, the plan today is we need to bleach everything from top to bottom.
Speaker A
The nursing staff gets down to sterilizing everything in sight before the operating rooms and wards are set up.
Speaker A
Other teams are busy on the dock unloading equipment to be transported into the city. The dental and eye clinics will be set up off the ship in buildings provided by Togo's government.
Speaker A
Most of the medical things happen on the ship, but we are able to see a lot more patients when we set up a clinic ashore and and then the locals will go there instead of having to come to the ship.
Speaker A
We ask for a double tier um security. Tracy does a perimeter check to make sure that the wall of containers around the ship is tight and no unwanted guests can sneak through.
Speaker A
There's a gap right in front of me. It's closed. Okay. So, the walls come together so nobody can get in at night and steal anything.
Speaker A
Party [Music] on board. The hospital ward is taking shape. Well done. All righty. And one floor below, Andy and his team are getting ready for some major maintenance. That means a power blackout of the entire ship.
Speaker A
Okay, in a few minutes at 7:00, we're going to uh trip the main breaker from the running harbor generator. Stop seawater system.
Speaker A
They have to shut off the ship's power to clean the engine coolers. Andy suspects that debris in those coolers contributed to overheating during the voyage.
Speaker A
It could also cause problems when they are powering the hospital. We need the temperatures down to run the air conditioning down here. We also run the refrigeration plants that uh keep the ship cool, the hospital cool. And without without power, we're nothing.
Speaker A
We're dead in the water. Here we go. 1 2 3. That's it. Breakers out. The system is shut down, but the coolers are still full of hot water. They have to be eased open gradually.
Speaker A
Water is very warm, maybe 60, 60, 65° right now, and I don't want to burn myself and somebody else. I have to do it very carefully.
Speaker A
Raise your wire around the ladder. Meanwhile, Tracy leaves the port and heads 3 kilome into the city. She needs to check out a local soccer stadium where medical staff will assess potential patients and decide who goes to the ship for surgery.
Speaker A
Because we are in a new country, we'll have concerns about if the crowds gets unruly, how to get our people out of there safely.
Speaker A
On a previous mission in 2006, a screening almost turned into a riot. Oh, I know. We have in the afternoon people get really desperate and that's when they start running the gates and then they some people were trying to put it to throw
Speaker A
the children over the gates because they were so scared that they would not be seen.
Speaker A
It's a situation they want to avoid this time. All right. So, let's walk it backwards.
Speaker A
They're exiting here. You should be there with pre-screening. We have two lines feeding in here. If things go wrong, how do we get out? The only thing that bothers me is that we don't have a back door spot.
Speaker A
Our entrance for the patient is also our exit in a crisis. The stadium is not perfect for mass screenings, but it is workable.
Speaker A
We figured out the flow of traffic. We figured out how they're going to be screened out at various stages. We also figured out our exit plan in case anything goes wrong. We actually have two bailout options.
Speaker A
No, we will slide it here, but we have to take off this device. Back in the ship's engine room, it's now clear why the cooling system gave them headaches on the way to Lome.
Speaker A
Blockages. Almost surprised. Yeah, we have to clean it. There are 1,500 tubes inside this cooler full of debris that's preventing sea water from circulating.
Speaker A
And we have to go through every tube with those brushes. Clean them. Take off all dirt.
Speaker A
We'll we'll go through all tubes and lower parts. We'll use a high pressure washing machine to wash it. Make sure that all particles washed out.
Speaker A
It's tedious but standard maintenance. Then Andy discovers something more worrying at the entrance to the other cooler.
Speaker A
I've got big pieces like this. So this is just a pure seal. It's inside of the pipes.
Speaker A
Yeah. Flaking off. What we found, which is a little bit disturbing, is we found some big big flakes of paint. It's coating from inside the seaw water pipes. These pieces are maybe the size of the palm of your hand. And one one
Speaker A
flake will block about 10 tubes. Otherwise, you got to dry. If the paint keeps flaking off inside the pipes, it could cause equipment failure during surgery.
Speaker A
Andy and his team will have to flush out the pipes constantly while the hospital is running.
Speaker A
This is an unexpected uh challenge. The first day of screening is about to begin. Tracy and her team head to the stadium well before dawn to get a head start on security.
Speaker A
But when the crowds are desperate, the bestlaid plans can go wrong in an instant.
Speaker A
It's just after 700 a.m. and Africa Mercy's medical team is in the city of Lom Togo.
Speaker A
Everyone who's in the line today will be seen. I don't want to jump people out of line because then we'll get we'll get in a situation.
Speaker A
At the stadium, people are lining up by the hundreds. So, so he has he has his club feet.
Speaker A
The boy can only take a few steps at a time on the sides of his deformed feet.
Speaker A
They're born with their feet twisted in like this. And that's allowed to be like that. He'll walk on the sides of his feet his whole life. It's a really simple operation to fix.
Speaker A
Africa Mercy's surgeons are experts at treating these kinds of problems. They've also seen a lot of this untreated tumors growing out of control.
Speaker A
5-year-old Sullean hasn't been to school in months because the growth on his ear has made him an outcast.
Speaker A
I've seen a little bit of everything. So, I'm excited to get these people through the line and and have them signed up for surgery.
Speaker A
The queue is orderly so far. No security issues. Tracy speaking. But at the eye clinic a few blocks away.
Speaker A
The crowd's getting restless. Team from the eye clinic just called me. The crowd is not out of control, but they have uh over a thousand and would like some backup.
Speaker A
They started lining up at 4 in the morning. 6 hours later, the sun's getting unbearable and the people keep calming. It's a situation that could get out of control.
Speaker A
So, we've just called back to the ship and the ship is launching the support team, the extras we have on standby to provide that crowd control. They should be there in about 20 minutes.
Speaker A
Back in the ship's engine room, Andy and Dennis are performing another round of crucial maintenance, repairing the hospital's incinerator in time for the start of surgery.
Speaker A
We found some cracks out of broken up brick. So, we got we got a cover up and Arthur Dennis is busy filling in the cracks and he's also put a new floor covering in there.
Speaker A
Same like in a Russian sauna, but I used to it. I don't worry much.
Speaker A
A Russian sauna. Yeah, they're making the best of a sweltering job. But this is deadly serious. Sending hospital garbage ashore is not an option in West Africa.
Speaker A
Needles, leftover drugs, and surgical waste have to be burned on board at 1,150° C. have seen other countries the kids just rumaging through the waste and they could you know it's horrible to think about they could end up
Speaker A
nasty diseases and injuries if we didn't uh take care of this this waste in this way. So this incinerator is vital for the functioning of the hospital and what we do here.
Speaker A
At the stadium, the medical staff is hard at work. Dr. James McDaniel, an orthopedic surgeon from Texas, has been to Africa nine times with Mercy Ships. This is his second trip to Togo.
Speaker A
Very small operation and then wear a brace at night. He teaches surgical techniques to local doctors and also introduces less invasive alternatives.
Speaker A
Dr. Gary Parker, the chief medical officer, is one of the world's top specialists in facial tumors and cleft pallets.
Speaker A
Did you have injection afterwards? You see, he's performed more than 4,000 operations in his career.
Speaker A
Dr. Parker's diagnosis of Sulleon's ear tumor is promising. You'll have to stay with us a few days on the ship.
Speaker A
It's scar tissue and should only take an hour to remove. The next patient has a much more serious problem.
Speaker A
Him saw the came back home. Yeah, he's having difficult. Dr. Parker sees this condition a lot in Africa, a tumor growing out of the jawbone.
Speaker A
His is still relatively small by West African standards, but they get big enough that it's difficult to swallow and eventually they either suffocate or they starve.
Speaker A
The teenager Cosy will come to the ship for a CT scan. If the tumor is benign, Dr. Parker will try to remove it.
Speaker A
The sooner you can do these, the better it is for the patient. Today has gone well. Security Chief Tracy Swopee is relieved.
Speaker A
We were able to maintain crowd control and put them in to the medical people very smoothly. So, I'm really pleased we'll replicate it again.
Speaker A
Back in the port, a dive team prepares to tackle another dirty job that must be done before surgery.
Speaker A
They're checking the ship's water intakes and removing anything that might be blocking them. Garbage, barnacles, even raw sewage.
Speaker A
A plugged intake can be a nightmare for the engine room crew because it stops seawater from entering the cooling system. It hasn't been a fun job for dive leader Olly Pete and his team.
Speaker A
There was a a bit of plastic, a bit of barnacles, quite a lot of poo poo. That wasn't very pleasant.
Speaker A
One of the volunteer divers, word nurse Sharon Rugles, has a vested interest in today's dirty detail.
Speaker A
I'll be working in the hospital, so it's very important that we have the intakes clean so that all our equipment will work and we have air conditioning cuz if not, it gets very, very hot down there and that's not good for patients who are
Speaker A
trying to get better. Further down the dock, the first patients are boarding Africa Mercy.
Speaker A
It's the first time for any of the patients to be on the ship. So, they're all excited. They're all really overwhelmed. It's not easy for any of them, but they all they get their hope in their in their hands and they come up
Speaker A
the gang way and and that's the start of everything for them. in the shower.
Speaker A
One of the new arrivals is Kosi, who's come for his CT scan. It will tell doctors if his large tumor is benign.
Speaker A
This is a rare machine in West Africa, something Kosy would never have access to on shore.
Speaker A
We're grateful to have such a machine here in West Africa with us. Dr. Parker will know within minutes if Kosy's life can be saved.
Speaker A
[Music] Africa Mercy's chief medical officer Dr. Gary Parker has looked at Cosy's CT scan and the verdict is in.
Speaker A
The scan shows the tumor to be pushing up into the eye socket, but it does not ex invade the eye socket. It looks benign uh from the X-ray appearance. So, we've got a job for tomorrow.
Speaker A
It's big news for Coy and a bit overwhelming. Say you're so happy. He's so happy that he going to turn back into the way he was.
Speaker A
He's so happy. Cozy's roommate is 5-year-old Sulamon. He'll be first up for surgery in the morning.
Speaker A
And we got Solomon ready. As Dr. Parker prepares to operate on Sulleon. Orthopedic surgeons are already finishing their first job of the day, straightening a child's deformed leg.
Speaker A
We'll check the uh oil level first. And down in the engine room, the machinery is running smoothly thanks to all that pre-surgery maintenance.
Speaker A
But Andy and his crew can't let their guard down. Keeping everything running is now literally a matter of life and death on the hospital deck.
Speaker A
At the same time, they have to be prepared to react to a crisis on shore and be ready to head to sea on short notice.
Speaker A
The big challenge is we always need to be ready to sail. Uh if the situation in a country changed politically, civil unrest, we always need our main engines ready to go.
Speaker A
Very sad. Very sad to eat. Yeah. Take it here first. Captain Captain Drether can't let up either.
Speaker A
We have to maintain the security levels that we've established. We need to continue to monitor the situation in the country and we need to um continue with our drills. The job never stops. It's uh sort of a 24/7
Speaker A
uh sort of situation. I love it. Uh but it's demanding. We will confirm in a moment. Over cabin above a war number five.
Speaker A
It takes less than an hour for Dr. Parker to remove Zulleon's tumor, exposing a perfect ear underneath.
Speaker A
[Music] Now it's Cosy's turn. His surgery will take a lot longer. [Music] The mission's first orthopedic patient is recovering nicely.
Speaker A
She's just starting to wake up. As you can see, her leg is nice and straight now where it was. It was curved before.
Speaker A
She has a nice straight bone here. So, we're looking for her to make a full recovery.
Speaker A
Her mother never thought she'd see this day. It's been 4 hours since Kosy's surgery began. And even asleep, he's unrecognizable.
Speaker A
The tumor is gone. So, his nose and mouth have shifted back to the center of his face.
Speaker A
Not only will he live, but also I I think that the reconstruction that we've done will work for him and he'll be able to go just go back to school and should be able to have a normal life. So that's
Speaker A
really good news for him and great for us too. And it's great news for Kosy's father, too.
Speaker A
Over the next 6 months, the staff of Africa Mercy will perform as many as 2500 operations.
Speaker A
We'll take a look at that tomorrow. But there will still be far more people needing help than they can handle on this trip.
Speaker A
Even though this for me is my fourth time in Togo, I keep thinking somehow we're going to come to the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, but um I don't know, not in my lifetime.
Speaker A
Africa Mercy has a lot of life left as a hospital ship and everyone on board no matter what their job has the same goal. Make these lineups disappear one patient at a time in Toko and the rest of Africa.
Speaker A
[Music] [Music]
Topics:Africa Mercyhospital shipMercy Shipsmedical missionTogoWest Africacharitypirate watchship engineeringhumanitarian aid
