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Sunday, March 30, 2008

Liberia - Look What God Did!

You never know what will happen when you get to use something for the first time. This is probably exactly how the crew were feeling when they started the Liberian outreach with a new ship. What teething problems will there be, will everything work etc. Here are just a few of things that were achieved:
1108 Liberians received free eye surgeries
542 patients received life-changing maxillofacial, plastic or general surgeries
102 women with free surgery to repair childbirth injury
Training achieved for nurses and surgeons in VVF and other surgical techniques
75 patients including children with club feet received free orthopaedic surgeries
With only a handful of dentists serving the entire nation, the Mercy Ships dental professionals held clinic in a local facility off ship where they were able to treat more then 6,000 patients with nearly as many receiving oral health lessons as they waited. It is estimated by the UN that Liberia has only around 30 doctors and four functioning hospitals for the country’s 3 million people, excluding NGO personnel.
At the invitation of the Minister of Health, Mercy Ships also brought in highly skilled volunteers who trained church leaders and health care workers through regular on site visits, lectures and conferences on issues of mental illness and trauma, partnered with villages to train agricultural workers & instructors, helped dig and rehabilitate wells, latrines and school sanitation facilities.