Mercy Ships International

[deepz]

Opportunities abound with http://www.mercyships.org/

Forwarded from my intrepid friend Bud Busby, CRNA.....................

"Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated"

I quote Mark Twain above as an acknowledgment that I have been woefully

out of touch with you all. Rather than a long explaination, suffice it

to say that I have had some serious spiritual continuing education

opportunities over the past year. I know that some of you are already

aware of some changes with Mercy Ships but I will do a quick review to

get everyone on the same page.

Both the Anastasis and the Caribbean Mercy are being retired. The

Caribbean Mercy is already sidelined in Gulfport Mississippi and the

Anastasis is currently on its last medical outreach in Liberia. On June

4, the Anastasis will come alongside the Africa Mercy in Ghana for a

"handover" ceremony. After that, we will be utilizing one ship, the

Africa Mercy beginning surgeries in Ghana June 15th. Initially we will

not be using all 6 operating theatres but will gradually get up to speed

as we get things sorted out with this new vessel. Even though we have

been doing this for 15 years or more, we still know that we can expect

some problems. We have tried to anticipate most of them but since we

have years of experience in this mercurial environment, we know enough

to start out a new venture conservatively and ramp up from there.

Staffing needs remain for April and May aboard the Anastasis so please

email me if you can help out. After that we will be communicating the

needs of the Africa Mercy as we know more. We will be well equipped at

the start after bringing the remainder of the anaesthesia equipment from

the Anastasis. We recently replaced the machines aboard the Anastasis

and will bring them up to standard again prior to placing them in

service aboard the Africa Mercy. Many of you may remamber that I was

raising money for this equipment and many of you contributed to the MDEA

account. I appreciate this so much and couldn't have brought this about

without these contributions. We were also able to set up the anesthesia

equipment at the Freetown Sierra Leone Fistula center. They are doing

cases that require more complex anaesthesia management in blocks

scheduled over two week periods. If any of you want to go there for a

solo adventure, I will be happy to get you referred to them just let me

know.

I do want to mention the biggest blessing of all which is two other

anaesthetists to come "aboard" and help. Raymond Broadbent CRNA came on

in January to fill in the gaps I had left and he will be doing a lot of

the administrative coordinating from Texas. Dr. David Walker from South

Africa is completing his Gateway training and will be full time aboard

the Africa Mercy starting in June. Please feel free to contact either of

them at the following email addresses.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Once again, I appreciate all of you and hope to be in touch or hear from

you. The adventure continues and to quote a friend of mine, "the deal's

on, it's just not what I thought". I am learning to hold my expectations

loosely and am grateful for you all sharing the load with us.

Blessings,

Richard Busby CRNA, MSN

Director, Anesthesia Support Services

Mercy Ships International

Health Care Services

[Hoping LVN2BSN]

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For those unacquainted with Bud and his work:

http://www.gaspasser.com/BudBusby.html

deepz