Annalong nurse to rejoin hospital ship
It was a year ago that we last caught up with Jane White from Annalong Parish. Jane had just spent 10 months nursing aboard the hospital ship Africa Mercy, moored in Madagascar, and was leaving to rejoin the vessel for another tour.
Jane was due to finish her stint with Mercy Ships this month but she has signed up for another year. When she goes back on duty at the end of July the ship will move on to Cameroon, where it will once again provide care for the poorest in West Africa.
Africa Mercy provides life–changing medical care to the poorest people in the country where it’s moored. Last summer the ship sailed for Benin, West Africa, where Jane reprised her role as team leader on the general surgical ward nursing patients with serious ‘hernias, lumps and bumps’ as she puts it.
Her joy in the work and sense of call are obvious but it was a tough year on the busy ward with a lot of emergencies. “I only got through it with God’s help and the prayers from home,” says Jane.
The ship has an Intensive Care Unit, pharmacy, X–Ray machine and CT scanner, which is sometimes the only one in the country. The hospital is staffed entirely by self–funded volunteers from all over the world with an ever changing team of surgeons and anaesthetists. They perform orthopaedic, plastic, maxillofacial and general surgery in carefully selected cases.
Jane enjoys leading the ward team of around 15 nurses and 12 translators. “Mothering is my leadership style, she laughs, “and I do look out for my staff’s mental, physical and spiritual health. I always lead a short devotion at the handover and I’m amazed at how God can speak during those times.”
As Africa Mercy sails on to another port, Jane too, will be moving roles and location. At her own request, she will based dockside in the Outpatients tent. “It will be a smaller team, but I feel ready for a new challenge,” she says.
To make a donation to Mercy Ships or to Jane as an individual crew member please visit www.mercyships.org.uk