Orthopedic surgeon Johannes Bernbeck, MD, occasionally leaves his spinal surgery practice in Southern California to travel the world with Mercy Ships, an organization that has been bringing global charity to developing nations since 1978. When the Mercy Ship docks at ports in Africa and the Caribbean, patients come aboard for critical operations they might not otherwise receive. Bernbeck spoke with ABILITY’s Tom Chappell, MD, and publisher Chet Cooper about how he and a team of volunteers work on a floating hospital.
Chet Cooper: How did you get involved with Mercy Ships?
Dr. Johannes Bernbeck: I first hooked up with Children of the Nations through my church. It’s a non-governmental organization that cares for children who are orphaned and destitute. I wanted to get a taste for providing medical services in underserved parts of the world. Then I aligned myself with Mercy Ships because I wanted to get in with a group that’s already gone through its growing pains. Mercy Ships is a well-functioning organization. I’m learning more about the logistics of how it’s run.
Cooper: I’m amazed by all the work you do locally at Kaiser Permanente, in addition to the work you do overseas. You’re about to take another trip now.
Bernbeck: That’s right. Children of the Nations is based in Africa, but I’ve also traveled with that organization to the Dominican Republic. I joined up right after the Haitian earthquake. Things were in such disarray in Haiti that I thought it would be better to work out of the Dominican Republic. The two nations share one body of land.
Cooper: How was that experience?
Bernbeck: Eye-opening. Children of the Nations has a clinic in Barahona, the poorest part of the Dominican Republic. Once a year, a big team of doctors—mostly from the northwest—bring their equipment and perform operations. But when the staff leaves, they take their equipment with them. The rest of the year that clinic is empty.
I’m trying to get equipment donated or purchased so the clinic can stay open permanently, and so that we can have a constant presence. There are plenty of doctors who would love to go there for a week each year. If I can get 52 doctors to each spend one week in Barahona, we’ll have year-round staffing.
Cooper: How is that undertaking coming together?
Bernbeck: We just got some x-ray equipment donated, so we’re working out the logistics of getting it into the country without having to pay high tariffs. We’re going to inventory our surgical equipment on this trip, so we can solicit more donors to fill whatever gaps we have. We hope that a year from now we can start doing more procedures and help more people in the region.
Cooper: When you’re on the search for equipment, are you looking for contributions from the manufacturer, used equipment, or what?
Bernbeck: We have a variety of sources. If a hospital has equipment that’s obsolete but still in good condition, it may be fine for use in procedures in a developing country. Hospitals can make a tax-deductible donation of equipment that they would typically just put in storage. We believe it’s good for a hospital’s “brand,” or for the brand of any other entity, to donate to an organization like ours.
Cooper: All the equipment stays on the ship, right?
Bernbeck: Right. The hospital’s on the ship, and all the equipment stays there, too. I’m trying to learn how they run things, because it’s analogous, to some degree, to this hospital in the Dominican Republic, which I want to get up and running.
Cooper: How many Mercy Ships are there?
Bernbeck: There used to be several, but now there’s only one. Hopefully in the future they’ll have additional ships, but right now it’s just the Africa Mercy. In the past, Mercy Ships had vessels that went down to South America as well.
Cooper: What happened to those?
Bernbeck: I think some of them were getting so old that they weren’t worth the cost of the maintenance. Every year, when the ship goes into dry-dock, certain systems need to be rebuilt and brought up to speed. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just to keep a ship functional.
Chappell: Are these Navy ships?
Bernbeck: The ships come from a variety of sources. The one I served on, Africa Mercy, was previously a rail ferry. I believe it had been used to transport locomotives and rail cars across the North and Baltic Seas. A rail ferry has a big open space, making it ideal for a hospital ship. The inside of the ship is built like a hangar, so not much needs to be torn out to convert it into a hospital ship. If you were to convert a cruise ship, you’d have to tear out a lot of things.
The downside is that when a rail ferry crosses the ocean, it rocks a lot. This is not your typical ocean-going vessel with a deep V-hull. It has a flat bottom, which makes for a rougher ride. We sometimes have to hold on to the x-ray equipment, and to the back table where the sterile supplies are kept, so nothing rolls around.
Cooper: Did you keep any kind of notes or diary when you were on the ship?
Bernbeck: I sent a lot of e-mails to friends back home. There were so many impressions, so many different things that happened, and a lot of emotions. People walked into our hospital from all over Sierra Leone. Some of them walked for three or four days when they heard a hospital ship was there. They would carry their children and stand in long lines to see us. At one point there was a big fight and a man died. Eleven people were trampled. These people were so desperate to get medical attention.
Chappell: You perform only spinal surgery in your practice at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center. I imagine when you were out on the ship, you had to sharpen your general skills?
Bernbeck: Right. Most of what we were doing there was pediatrics: straightening out leg deformities and treating neglected traumas. We.... continued in ABILITY Magazine click here to order a print copy or to subscribe Or get a free digi issue with a "Like" on our Facebook page.
mercyships.org
Excerpts from the Katie Leclerc Issue Aug/Sep 2011:
Mercy Ships — Healers on the High Seas
Silver Scorpion — New Breed of Superhero
Katie Leclerc — ABC Family Star and Ménière’s Disease
Paralympic Sailing — Harnessing the Wind
Funny Business — Sue Z. Hart
Lasik Surgery — The Eyes Have It
Articles in the Katie Leclerc Issue; Humor — Jockey: A Horse Tale (Pt. 2); Ashley Fiolek — The Wind Beneath Her Wheels; Sen. Tom Harkin — A Call to Employers; Lasik Surgery — The Eyes Have It; Funny Business — Sue Z. Hart and the Art of Laughter; Water skiing — Mama Does It Barefoot; Paralympic Sailing — Harnessing the Wind; Mercy Ships — Healers on the High Seas; Katie Leclerc — ABC Family Star on Ménière’s Disease; Silver Scorpion — New Breed of Superhero; Ra’Shad Solomon — Model of Persistence; Eating Local — A Four Seasons’ Palette; ABILITY's Crossword Puzzle; Events and Conferences... subscribe
