Vietnam Day 1

We are now anchored a few miles off shore of Vietnam. A little ironic we pulled in on Memorial Day… Everyone is anxious to get on land and start seeing patients. This is what we’ve been waiting for the past month! Can’t believe it took a month to get here (we go sooo slow!). But now we are here and now we have to be flexible. I’m sure it won’t be what we thought it would be…we have to be willing to adjust to the difficulties of language barriers, lack of supplies and sometimes lack of communication. But when we are done, we will have helped hundreds of individuals. People who wouldn’t have been able to afford medical care, surgery or medications. Please keep us in your prayers. We have several weeks of long days (sometimes 14-16hrs with little sleep), hot weather (heat index ranging in the low 100’s with HIGH humidity), frustrations (language barriers, communications and expectations) and few immediate rewards.

 

Please send positive/ inspiring quotes and reassuring words so I can share with my team! We’re so excited to be here but need your support. Happy Memorial Day! And God Bless the USA!

Two days till the real work begins

On Monday we will arrive in Vietnam waters and anchor about 7km from shore. We’ll have to take ribbs (small boats) to get to shore about 40 people at a time. It’s about a 40min trip one way. Based on the recent weather report and my experiences walking outside…I am very grateful to be working on the ship majority of the time. Our job here will be hard too but in a very different way. So far I’ve already heard about 50 cleft lip/palate patients that have been screened and added to our surgery list. There will be other kinds of surgeries going on, but the general surgeons are not sure what they will see. I will have an opportunity to go to a MEDCAP (medical civilian assistance program) one day next week. It will require waking up at 0400 and loading the boats by 0500, then not returning till about 2000 at night. Not sure what my responsibilities will be there since I cannot diagnose patients. I imagine having to take a lot of vital signs. FYI I was told at a brief yesterday this is a $24million dollar mission (not including pay checks or the ship -maintenance, gas etc…).

 

Right now we are passing through the Philippines. You can see islands on both sides of the ship. All our force protection guys are out with their big guns watching for other ships. Two years ago our helo was hit by a few bullets while leaving the Philippines so they are pretty on edge. Also this area, San Bernardino Strait is a strait in the Philippines known for their pirates so we’ve had to go indoors while approaching other ships.  I keep meaning to get up in time for a sunrise and be outside for the sunset…but as I mentioned earlier it’s hard with flight ops and obviously difficult to wake up early.

 

Tomorrow is our last holiday schedule for a little while…after this we have to work for the next 14days with *maybe* only 1 day off (hopefully). I’m sure it’ll be exhausting but at least we will have patients/kids to play with and will be able to receive mail consistently.

 

Say a prayer and wish us luck!! J

Heat Index: VERY HOT

Hope this picture shows up clearly. You can see where we are…where we are headed…and how damn hot it is!

 

 

Flying Fish and Green Flash Sunsets

I try to make a point everyday to get 15min of mandatory fresh air and sunshine. Some days it’s harder than others because I’m in a hurry or the weather decks are closed due to flight ops. (No one can go outside except crew while they are flying the helo…it’s a big bummer.) It’s amazing how much you miss just a minute of walking outside and getting real light. Recently it’s been horribly humid and hot so the 15min gets a bit long… so it’s nice when flight ops secures before dinner. It’s usually cool enough as the sun goes down. I’ve been trying to watch for the sunsets and especially on the lookout for the green flash. Look it up J Apparently they are really popular in Guam so while I was there we stayed out and tried to see one, but the clouds got in the way. Tonight I got to see flying fish. They are out of the water for approximately 20-30sec (from the ones I counted). It’s incredible! From the deck they look very small but I was told they are about 18” long.

 

So this past weekend I was in Guam. The first two days were working days (we didn’t get liberty till 1600) and the middle two days I had duty (so I had to stay on the ship 24hrs). The first day after work I had been selected to attend the Guam Chamber of Commerce event welcoming the USNS Mercy to Guam. Requirements were a bubbly personality and to be a young professional on the mission. Glad I could be bubbly enough. It was held at the Outrigger Hotel in downtown, a gorgeous, luscious, tropical and lovely hotel. The food was great! I ate as much sashimi and cheese (they don’t have ANY cheese onboard) as I could. Also enjoyed a delicious prime rib with local island sauce (soy sauce based) and desserts. Meet a few chamber members that were retired military or ones who moved to Guam after a weeklong visit-30 years ago! After the event we walked down to some local bars and played all night! We were out with the Master (MSC CO), Chief Mate (MSC XO), Cargo Mate (also MSC), some nurses, optometrists, PAOs, Band Director, nutritionists, doctors… Quite a mix of people but really a fun time! Back on the ship by midnight and ready for the next working day. For the next two days I had duty (I picked up a duty day so I have off in Singapore). Got to bed early Friday night but had to wake up at 0130 to report for duty at 0230. Lucky for me nothing exciting happened during my 9hr watch (two watches back to back) just before and then after my shifts... I didn’t get off till noon Saturday and at that point decided just to stay awake. Make a food run for lunch and dinner for the crew. Tried watching Crazy Heart but fell asleep early. Woke up early (0530) Sunday to call Aaron and muster…then waited for my friend Jenny to come by and pick me up. Jenny is a nurse here on Guam that I went to ODS with. She’ll be coming to SD in the fall, but not before I come back through Guam one more time! Sunday was so fun and relaxing. We attended a “Floatilla”…you bring your raft or float and just lay out in the bay listening to the music from the bar on the beach. Although the sun wasn’t out as much as it had been the past two days, it was still beautiful. My friends condo is a 4 bedroom overlooking the bay and just steps from the water. In Guam you get OAH for overseas housing and it’s a use or lose type pay. In San Diego my BAH goes into my paycheck so I don’t have to have a house/apt the same cost as the pay…in Guam you do, so you might as well get the best possible. I told her she’ll have to lower her standards quite a bit from the HUGE condo, marble floors and counters, garden bath tubs and balconies…seriously it was gorgeous. Did I mention her and her bf came to pick me up in a jeep? Most amazing thing ever!!how many jeeps there are on the island! I love it.

 

We finally picked up more staff! Right now there are about 25 people on the schedule. Huge difference from our first 5. Most don’t have real “peds” experience…but come from L&D or postpartum. All our NGO (non governmental organizations …ie civilians) have very specific peds experience (ie 6yrs in PICU or 4yrs in NICU/Peds). We also got our docs! KMAC signed on Friday while I was on duty…I was in my whites and he had just gotten a bloody nose. Great to see him, not necessarily safe for a hug. Lol So glad to have a face I know around though… We have a lot of different service members and civilian groups onboard now. Walking down the hall you see Army, Air Force, UK Doc, Australian military, Singapore Docs, Canadian military and different Navy groups too…the Seabees are here, MAs, Line Officers, Staff Officers…….

 

Side note, not too interesting but kind of is to me… I have a tooth bothering me and had it looked at last week. It seemed to be getting better until this AM when it started really hurting. Just while eating though. I had made a point to go to the dentist sometime later today and then a dentist came to me at lunch and said “Heard your tooth has been bothering you a bit”. Kind of weird but at the same time a good example of what happens when you take the work away from providers…they go out looking for some! It’s finally getting exciting knowing we’ll be taking on patients in about a week…definitely more of a buzz around the ship (probably helps there are 500 more people now too).

 

Time for bed… 0515 spin class in AM!

 

 

Greater respect for the little things...

…tonight I spent my evening in the galley and scullery. For the first hour I served all the enlisted guys and gals, standing in front of a hot line and wondering how they do it all the time! Our ship has CS (culinary specialists) and FSAs (food service attendants). The CSs are the cooks…this is their rating (aka job). The FSAs are the guys that fill a spot that makes the ship run (food prep, serving, cleaning dishes, laundry…). Not only are they responsible for the food service, galley and mess deck cleaning but also cleaning the heads (bathrooms) in the officer  berthing and a thousand other little tasks! They typically work from 0430 till 2200 on their long days and then 0430 till 1300 on their “short” days. For my second hour I helped in the kitchen part, prepping pieces of cake, helping make soup and swabbing the decks (mopping the wet spots). I also got to help out the in scullery (where they do dishes). Five minutes in and I was sweating up a storm! I worked on the other side (clean side) of the dishwasher where they hang a thermometer to monitor heat …it was 92deg!!!! All and all it was a great experience. We should have more chances to help out and give back a little to the FSAs who work so hard! I try really hard to always say hi and thank them for everything they do.

 

My 0515 spin class has been going well! Avg about 10 ppl in each class so far…although I went this AM to my roomie’s class (Marissa the PAO) and she was packed! Gotta get more music! J On my off spin days I try to run. Hoping to run a half marathon in Guam on my own. It will be kind of cool to add a territory to my list of 50 half marathons in 50 states. I mostly workout in the AM but by afternoon feel lazy because everyone else is just now going to workout. Oh well, I still haven’t convinced myself to do “2 a days”.

 

Only 2 more days till Guam. It’s amazing that I’ve only been gone 2 weeks. It really feels like a month! Now I understand how hard deployment is on people …where life continues for everyone at home, the people that deploy really rely on hearing from home to feel connected.

 

We’re setting up the wards still. Getting supplies from the main supply “barn” has been a mess! They have to inventory everything, they request our supply list , then collect everything and then deliver and distribute. The hardest part is the description they give on the supply list may or may not be anything close to what you’re used to calling it. Still haven’t received anything…they keep pushing the date. Now they say right after Guam we’ll get everything. (As long as its not the day before Vietnam, I’m happy.)

We’re at approximately 400 staff members on board now…that includes nurses, doctors, corpsmen, MSC, admin, anciillary staff, Damage control (aka firefighters), helo pilots, force protection and MAs, etc… But in Guam we are expected to swell to approx 1000-1100 members! If you think the showers are crowded now, oh gawd!

 

Staff dynamics are beginning to take shape…right now we have 3 corpsmen, HN Peatvienna, HN Cunningham and HN Cummings. An HN is an E3…3^rd level of enlisted. They have taking a rating (job) but have not had to take an advancement exam at this time to promote. Most have little experience but are ready to learn. Only Cunningham has had pediatric experience so we’ll be teaching a lot. Then we have 2 LDS (Latter Day Saints/Mormon) nurses, Lizzy from UK and Amy from Canada. Both have tons of peds experience and are awesome, friendly personalities. There are 3 Navy nurses right now, LCDR Benfield (our DIVO aka Boss) and LCDR Partridge (a reservist that will be with us until Singapore) and myself. Neither Benfield or Partridge have worked peds in a while but both requested pediatrics. We expect a few more in Guam and hopefully we’ll be fully staffed. We hope to be able to take on 35 pts a day (7 pts for a nurse + HM during days). Standby to standby.

 

I’m really enjoying meeting so many different people on board. It’s amazing the jobs people take on to make the Navy go… Also amazing the backgrounds people come from and how –for the most part- they join together for a common goal. Everyone has been very willing to teach me their jobs and help me understand what their parts are in Big Navy. We’ve started studying for our SWMDO (Surface Warfare Medical Officer pin) and have to learn a lot about the Big Navy and our own ship…it’s a lot! But very interesting …

 

I’m on DNS (directorate of nursing services) watch tonight. Hopefully no one gets hurt or falls out…otherwise I get woken up and have to admit them to the ICU. (All staff/shipboard admissions go to ICU regardless of their medical status.) We rotate every morning/night and have DNS duty about once a week. This weekend I’ll have ship section duty…I’ll tell you about that later. Goodnight!

 

 

 

Geedunk and Entertainment

Everyone keeps asking me what they can send…Here is a quick list I came up with:

Air fresheners (Yankee candle type for lockers and shoe drawers :-P)

Cute stationary (ie fresh ink-hallmark or target cards)

Movies *don’t have to buy new ones, get ones from goodwill or burn a copy of yours…

CDs/Music…esp music for working out. I’m teaching 4 spin cycle classes a week so variety would be great!

Old magazines (just send the ones you’ve already read)

Books

Any kind of snacks or junk food. Including:

Easy Mac and tuna kits

Tootsie rolls

Luna or protein bars

Sour patch kids

Popcorn

Pringles or UTZ!! *obviously crab if you can find them!!

Ginger snaps/Vienna fingers

Wasabi almonds

…I promise I’ll share with my corpsmen and coworkers.

 

And anything else you think you'd like to receive when you have to spend 5months without a target or mall :-)

It’s pretty warm here, so stuff may melt. If you’re worried, put it in a separate plastic bag inside the package. They recommend you send everything priority so it doesn’t take *as* long. Estimate at least 2 weeks though…

 

My address is:

LTJG Caitlin Workman

DNS/PEDS

USNS Mercy (T-AH 19)

FPO-AP 96672-4090

 

Thank you all! I really miss you…seems like I’ve been gone so much longer than 2 weeks…hope to hear from everyone soon! J

PS Even if you don’t have time to send a package…any postcard, letter or email (Caitlin.workman@mercy.navy.mil) is more than welcome!!

 

En Route to Guam ...

…aka Japan’s Little Hawaii

 

We left Hawaii yesterday morning at 0900 and are now headed to Guam. We hope to arrive a day early so the repair of our communication satellite can continue. We have had no internet and very slow email since the beginning of last week. Beside the inconvenience to the crew, not having internet or communications is unproductive for our mission. A lot of people are not able to do their job at this time because of the unavailable networks. We had heard rumors of staying in Hawaii an extra day while they tried to continue to fix the problem, but obviously the powers that be decided to keep going.  

 

Pearl Harbor and Waikiki were beautiful. Unfortunately the first day I had duty. This means I had to stay on the ship for 24hrs while my section was assigned duty. In that period I stood a 4 hr watch on the quarterdeck (entrance to the ship). My watch was from 0000-0400, the hardest one. It’s hard because you don’t get much sleep. Even if you go to bed early, you still have to get up for watch. And even though you can go back to sleep, you still have to muster (take attendance) at 0730 every morning. It was kind of a bummer because we were only in Oahu for 2 days and the first day was a duty day for me. Good news, we’ll be coming back through in September. On my day off I did get to run to the NEX (Navy Exchange), pick up a few items and then head downtown Waikiki for lunch. We ate at Duke’s and sat just off the beach on their patio. It’s gorgeous there! The water is so blue and it was so sunny. After a few Mai Tai’s, a Hula pie for my birthday and some pictures with The Duke (a statue), we laid out. Sadly I didn’t pack my swim suit but still got my feet wet walking up and down the beach. Hopefully I will figure out how to upload some of the pictures soon! Around 1600 I headed back to the ship to doll up for our evening Luau. The Navy Nurse Corps organized a trip to Germaine’s Luau to celebrate the Nurse Corps Birthday! It was a blast! Great food, ethnic dancing and drinks. It was right on the beach so we were able to watch the sunset as the show continued. After we went back to the ship and went straight to bed. On days we pull out of port liberty is typically secured at 0630 so you also muster at that time. So far I haven’t slept past 0630 any day.

 

I will have to backtrack and write about last week but for now lunch break is over. Back to setting up our wards. Today we received all the equipment we’ll need (vital sign machines, portable suction, thermometers, scales, emergency equipment, etc…) We’re cleaning it all off and distributing it between our 3 wards. Maybe when we’re done I can take a nap J

 

Deployment Day 1MAY

Meal report for the day: Surprisingly good, considering the delicate situation of my appetite and stomach. I’m not so much seasick as just feel funny. No nausea or headache…just tiredness.

Breakfast was actually starbucks…I woke up at 0400 to finish packing my bag and make sure I had time enough for my last cup of caramel macchiato (for a while). Lunch was a HUGE burger…of which I could only eat ¼. It was about lunch time that we started rocking and swaying.

 

According to the CIVMAR (civilian mariners who drive our ship) this is “better than usual”…can’t wait to see what’s to come. Hopefully I find my sea legs before the swells get any bigger. Right now we’re looking at 2-4ft swells but are expected to hit a storm with up to 20ft swells. According to my roommate, a SWO previously on a DDG, her ship couldn’t handle more than 12ft without risk of breaking the ship.

 

I now have 6 roommates in our 8 bunk room. We have quite the mixture of Navy professionals; There is a SWO (Surface Warfare Officer, otherwise known as a shipdriver), Helo pilot (from Baltimore Maryland!), Optometrist, Pharmacist, MWR Fun Boss (Morale, Welfare and Recreation Event planner) and PAO (Public Affairs Officer, who was formerly a jet pilot). Everyone seems to have a great personality and hopefully will get along well. 

 

It was sad for me to watch the enlisted manning the rails as we pulled out. Many of their family members waved as we set sail and it was easy to spot a few with tears in their eyes, trying to stand at attention….to be continued. Interupted by one of our MANY drills!

Our Pacific Partnership Tour 2010