Getting ready to go!!!

I will be joining the Africa Mercy from May 19 to June 27, working as an Operating Room Nurse. The hospital ship has 6 operating rooms, 78 hospital beds, and has space for over 450 volunteers on board (plenty of room for all you other keeners who would like to join me)! The ship was once a rail ferry in the UK but has since been renovated to be a hospital ship and has been in use by the Mercy Ships organization since 2007.

Why Did I decide to serve with Mercy Ships?
I first found out about Mercy Ships when I was in my third year of nursing at Queen's University. I was hooked! It sounded like such a neat opportunity to be able to provide health care to people who would not otherwise be able to get the basic care they so desperately needed. The desire to use the gifts that God has given me to help others in need, has stuck with me. Fast forward five years! I have been working as a nurse at Sick Kids Hospital in the Operating Room for almost three years now.  Still convicted with a desire to use the gifts that God has given me to help others, I applied to volunteer on board the Africa Mercy.

Why Sierra Leone?
The need in Sierra Leone is vast...

• Sierra Leone ranked 158 out of 169 countries in the world (2010 United Nations Human Development Index)
• there are are only 2 Doctors for every 100,000 people
• there is 1 dentist for every 100,000 people
• infant mortality rate in Sierra Leone is 123 per 1,000 births

Check out the Mercy Ships video on Sierra Leone:

The Africa Mercy will be docked in Freetown, Sierra Leone while I am on board. It arrived February 25 and will stay there until approximately December 8, 2011.