Mercy Mission

By PETER ATKINSON, Deputy Editor

In his essay outlining the U.S. Navy’s role “as citizens” of the post-9/11 world in the August All Hands magazine, Adm. Mike Mullen, chief of naval operations, wrote: “Sailors have always reflected well upon America whenever we put in or wherever we are based.

“President Theodore Roosevelt welcomed home the Great White Fleet from its year-long cruise around the world by lauding its sailors as ‘the best of all possible ambassadors and heralds of peace.’ We still are.”

The Great White Fleet — four squadrons comprising 16 U.S. battleships — made 20 port calls on six continents from Dec. 16, 1907 – Feb. 22, 1909, helping the U.S. Navy sow goodwill worldwide and greatly enhance the nation’s presence, especially in the Pacific, where tensions were on the rise with Japan.

Nearly a century later, with the United States again trying to foster better relations and visibility in the Pacific region, where piracy, terrorism and instability pose constant threats, the gleaming white U.S. Naval hospital ship USNS Mercy is performing much the same ambassadorial mission on its own.

The San Diego-based Mercy, with an international crew of military, civilians and volunteers, concluded its second humanitarian assistance mission to the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia in 18 months Sept. 1, leaving an indelible mark on the people in the nations it visited during its five-month journey.

People like Mara Harun, a 60-year-old mother of three from Jolo, Philippines, who lost her eyesight to cataracts seven years ago.

According to an Associated Press report, moments after doctors from Mercy completed an operation to restore her sight at a hospital in Jolo, a Filipino doctor involved with the mission removed the white gauze bandages and asked if she could see anything.

“Nothing, nothing yet,” she mumbled.

The first thing Harun wanted to see, she said, were “the faces of people who did this favor for me.”

Moments later, her wish would come true.

Soraya Tampalan, a 13-year-old from Jolo, would have her wish for the chance at a more normal life granted as well. Born with a severely cleft lip, she said she dropped out of school in the third grade because of the constant teasing from other children.

“They would laugh and then throw stones at me,” she said. “I want to go back to school and get an education.”

A two-and-a-half hour operation June 9 to correct the deformity was a complete success, according to Navy Lt. Cmdr. Craig Salt, a surgeon aboard Mercy.

“We are very thankful. We never dreamed this would happen,” Soraya’s grandmother Fatima Tampalan, who accompanied her aboard Mercy, later told the International Herald Tribune.

Indonesian fisherman Henry Faisal survived the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia in December 2004 and claimed his wife and two children. But for the past year he had to endure the constant pain of a hernia he aggravated racing to escape the waves.

Faisal missed a chance to get it treated aboard Mercy during its first mission to the region in early 2005, when it assisted people in tsunami-ravaged areas of Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea. But a second opportunity arose in July when Mercy returned, and this time he waited three days in line to get on the ship.

A day after his surgery, he went back to his home healed, ready to go out and fish again.

“I feel great,” Faisal said as he was preparing to leave. “Thank you.”

“We’ve achieved a tremendous amount,” said Capt. Bradley Martin, Mercy’s mission commander. “We’ve delivered care to almost 200,000 people. We’ve done life-saving surgeries for people and we’ve altered people’s lives in a lot of positive ways.”

Mercy spent four weeks in the Philippines, where its crew performed more than 300 operations and helped train nearly 700 local medical professionals; just over a week in Bangladesh, where surgeons repaired cleft palates and other deformities on more than 60 children; and made several port calls over six weeks in Indonesia and East Timor, where it provided medical care to more than 11,000 people, treated more than 2,500 children, provided more than 13,300 immunizations and conducted 11,000 eye exams, according to Navy statistics.

This year’s mission was coordinated with host nations in the region and carried out in conjunction with nongovernmental relief organizations. The organizations working aboard Mercy included volunteers from Project HOPE, Operation Smile, Aloha Medical Mission, Tzu Chi Foundation, International Relief Teams, the University of California at San Diego Pre-Dental Society and a number of host nation nongovernmental organizations.

Mercy’s military medical team included U.S. Navy, Air Force and Army members along with personnel from Canada, India, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Team members provided general surgery, ophthalmology surgery, basic medical evaluation and treatment, preventative medicine treatment, dental screenings and treatment, optometry screenings, eyewear distribution, public health training and veterinary services.

“The deployment of USNS Mercy to Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific exemplifies the United States’ commitment to working together with our friends, partners and the regional community,” said Adm. Gary Roughead, commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet.

A Seabee detachment from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 from Port Hueneme, Calif., accompanied Mercy and provided basic construction, utility work, community relations and training in host countries. And the Navy Showband from Norfolk, Va., joined the deployment to provide outreach and entertainment to local populations where assistance work was taking place.

“This extends the hand of America that few people really get to see,” said Vice Adm. Donald C. Arthur, surgeon general of the Navy, during his visit to Mercy in Indonesia in July. “They usually talk about the U.S. military in ways that deal with combat and not with helping nations in a humanitarian way, so this is terrific. I think there will be more of these missions.”