Screening Day Success!

Let me tell you about today.....

Today the prayers of thousand globally, were answered!
Mercy Ships mass screening day mark 2, Saturday March 26th.  God was faithful and this screening at the UN Pharmacy Compound, Freetown, Sierra Leone was in stark contrast to the horrors of the previous screening weeks ago. From the outset peace reigned, the line was orderly and the crowd calm. This time we sent a security team at 2:00pm the day before (Friday March 25th) to help screen people to and organise the line. Below is a photo of some of the pre-sceening medical staff going through the lines with laminated pictures of conditons Mercy Ships are able to assist with. This proved to be very helpful in weeding out those that couldn't be helped in order that they not stand in line overnight just to be told that they couldn't be helped in the morning. This was a socure of great discontent and frustration at the previous screening. We also enlisted a very strong, armed police presence. Above is a photo of the first land rover convey arriving at the compound. They departed the ship at 5:00am. I was lucky enough to be amoungst the second wave and I left at 6:00am. The lines opened at 7:00am. The air was thick with humidity and mosquitoes but it was alo full of expecatation and hope that this time round the day would be a success!
                                                                                                          



 

Letting patients through the gate.
                                          



Look really hard... Can you see me in the background? I am wearing a grey shirt and I am waiting to do my job of escorting either an orthopedic or maxillo facial patient to another area such as pharmacy, x-ray, labs, communciations to have their photo taken or to the exit. It was a long, hot day. I spent much of it walking up and down a hill. I saw many things that were confronting but by the grace of God, I was able to look past these deformities and see the person on the inside.
The next few photos are of some of the dozens of patients that I escorted.



This little girl had been burnt by boiling water and was suffering terrible contractures.
                                                                 



This lady was very tiny and had the smallest waist I have ever seen. She had some very obvious jaw problems.
                                                                                                       



This man truly shocked me. I had seen pictures of very large tumours but this was the biggest one I had seen in the flesh. It was difficult for me to escort him as I didn't know what to say. I just asked people their names and how long they had been standing in line and expresed my joy if they had been able to receive a card for surgery and said how sorry I was if they had not. Thankfully, due to all the pre-screening that went on outside of the gates, most of the people whom I escorted had surgery scheduled.
                                                                                





One thing I saw a lot of was hand deformities, missing fingers, fused fingers, extra fingers...  something I picked up on in our country briefings, conducted during the sail, and the screening debriefings, was the importance of touch. So I made sure that I touched the fingers and hands of each of the children I escorted with these particular problems. It even gave me an opportunity to show them my own contracture in my little finger.                                                                     



Unfortunately there are some we simply cannot help. I don't know exactly what was wrong with this boy. This photo is the first time I have seen him from the front. I saw his mother carrying him from behind and I remember thinking that maybe that child didn't have a chance. How hearbreaking it must be to have to say no. Even as an escort-often the last reference for people after they have been denied surgery and are escorted to the exit, I heard people's pain. One man was carrying his baby who nostrils were almost non-existient and his baby could only breath through his mouth and his father was pleading for me to act. How hard it is to say no...



I did not escort this man but his disablity was typical of what we saw all day, over and over...
                                                                         



Cleft lips are also hugely common. Very treatable as a baby in a developed nation but in a country such as Sierra Leone the cleft lip remains into adulthood.
                                                      






The last patient of the day. Mercy Ships saw over 3,000 people, each treated with respect and dignity, each reassured that they would be given the attention they deserved. No matter what, we were committed to seeing every last patient!
                                     

Time for special hugs!
                                     

The success of the day was evident in the relaxed manner of the crew-there was even time for a bit of frivolity! That is our very good friend Peter with his mouth wide open-lol.