Mercy Ships new “Global Mercy” Global Grant ROTARY’S ......The addition of the Global Mercy,...

PARTNER WITH US TO TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES | MERCY SHIPS

ROTARY’S $1MILLION DOLLAR CHALLENGEMercy Ships new “Global Mercy” Global Grant

At the Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland Annual Conference and Showcase this year Mercy Ships gave us exclusive news that a new ship is being built in China, the Global Mercy.

Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland President 2018/2019 Debbie Hodge announced a Rotary Global Grant, the $1Million Dollar Challenge, to fund medical equipment.

A Grant Team has been set up in D1260 to administer the project as Mercy Ship’s UK Office is located in the that Rotary District.

This exciting project has not yet been opened to the general public but it can be promoted within Rotary, and our fundraising achievements will be broadcast when the campaign is announced publically

The project is open to Districts and Clubs globally with an invitation for Districts to donate with DDF money (say $10,000 or more if possible), and Clubs (anything from $300 upwards). Pledges only are required at this stage, and in US Dollars.

Barry Rassin, Rotary International President 2018/2019, calls it an amazing project which should get support worldwide. Further details are set out on page 7.

Pledges: to PDG Paul Denton, Chair D1260 Global Grants Committee, no later than 1st December 2019. Money from Clubs will not be required until the Grant has been sanctioned. The Grant Application needs to be with the Rotary Foundation by 1st January 2020 for review by the Trustees in April 2020.

Email for pledges: [email protected]

“ It’s an amazing project which should be supported world-wide.” RI President Barry Rassin 2018-2019

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MERCY SHIPS | PARTNER WITH US TO TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES

Mercy Ships takes a multi-pronged approach to improve healthcare systems in the countries we partner with. We reduce the immediate backlog of surgical patients through direct surgical provision aboard a hospital ship, whilst mentoring and training health care professionals and renovating local facilities. We work towards the sustainable long-term improvement of medical infrastructure.

Mercy Ships is committed to raising awareness of the extraordinary level of unmet need in global surgery, and to encourage an active and informed response to it. We have achieved much in our 40 year history, but are dedicated to doing more. Our focus is firmly on the future and eradicating diseases of poverty.

We work with each nation for up to five years, to ensure a lasting impact and we are currently building a new and much bigger hospital ship - the Global Mercy. The new ship will more than double Mercy Ships current capacity and enable us to reach more people lke Adama (featured on page 5).

This number is huge. It is equivalent to the populations of London, Scotland and Wales put together – dying every year because they can't get the operation they need.

Medical care that we take for granted in the UK – having a painful tooth extracted; being able to get a caesarean section; having cataracts repaired – simply isn't an option for five billion people around the world. Either the healthcare they need doesn't exist at all or it is completely inaccessible.

Of those people who can get surgery, a quarter face financial catastrophe as a result – and there's no guarantee that the operation will have solved the problem.

This means that people who need surgery are trapped in a cycle of poverty, unable to access or afford the care that could set them on the path towards a brighter future. Instead, these “diseases of poverty” lead to lifelong disability or death.

There is an urgent need for significant growth in surgical capacity and training in developing countries in order to address this problem.

THE NEED

According to the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, more than 17 million people die every year from conditions requiring surgical care. More people die from these conditions than from HIV, malaria and TB combined.

THE SOLUTION

mercyships.org.uk | 03


To achieve our ambition to do more and do even better, Mercy Ships needs to double the surgical and training capacity of our fleet.

In 2014, we commissioned the construction of the world’s first purpose built civilian hospital ship. The hull has now been completed. Our next step is to fit out the basic structure into a fully functional, state of the art, mobile hospital. This will take place in 2019/20 in the Philippines.

The Global Mercy will increase our surgical and teaching capacity from 8,500 operations to more than 20,000 operations per year and 1,400 medical staff trained and mentored will increase to over 2,800. The Global Mercy has been designed to carry out a wide range of surgeries including, but not limited to, maxillofacial and reconstructive surgery, tumour removal, cleft lip and palate repair, plastics, orthopaedics, cataract removal, and obstetric fistula repair.

The new hospital will cover most of decks 3 and 4 (7,000 m2) and will house 6 operating rooms, 102 acute care beds, 7 ICU/Isolation beds, and an additional 90 self-care beds.

The hospital will also have dedicated teaching/conference spaces as well as simulator labs for more effective surgical training. All pre- and post-operative work will be done on board, which minimises our footprint when operating in busy ports.

The design of the new ship incorporates 40 years of our learning, crew feedback and experience in its design. Bespoke meeting and work spaces will incorporate the latest technology for crew safety and security and the ship will provide accommodation for 641 people, including the crew and all medical staff onboard.

The addition of the Global Mercy, will more than double Mercy Ships surgical and training capacity and enable us to operate in two countries simultaneously.

#CHANGE THE ODDS

DOUBLE OUR CAPACITY

The Global Mercy, scheduled for deployment in 2020, is the newest vessel in the Mercy Ships fleet, and will more than double our annual medical capacity.



Phase 1. Protocol Signing

Phase 2. Assessing the Need

Phase 3. Ship Deployment

Phase 4. Training & Support

Phase 5. Impact Evaluation

Mercy Ships partners with every host nation for up to five years through a tried and tested Country Engagement Plan.

Phase 1. Protocol Signing Mercy Ships listens, builds relationships and collaborates with the Presidential Office, Ministry of Health, other departments of the government, and NGOs. A collaborative effort has an increased impact. A protocol of commitment is signed, taking into account World Health Organisation targets.

Phase 2. Assessing the Need An analysis of capacity needs within the local healthcare system is undertaken, establishing where assistance will be most effective. Assessment teams examine surgical and ancillary service capacity, port, security, and builds connections with key stakeholders. An Advance Team will enhance the effectiveness of the ship deployment by preparing for ship arrival.

Phase 3. Ship Deployment For 10 months, a Mercy Ship is docked in the host nation’s port, providing free surgical and dental care for thousands of people, training for local healthcare workers, renovations for local facilities and more.

Phase 4. Training & Support Project implementers return to provide additional instruction, learn about challenges faced by local healthcare professionals implementing learned materials and skills, and provide encouragement and additional input.

Phase 5. Impact Evaluation Teams return to learn how Mercy Ships work changed the lives of patients and trained healthcare professionals, and what was sustained from hospital and clinic improvement. Lessons are learned and used to inform future field services.

IMPACT THROUGH PARTNERSHIP

The Mercy Ships Country Engagement Plan model (CEP).



Adama was five months pregnant when the world around her started to flicker and fade. As clouded, disc-like cataracts developed in her eyes, soon all she could see were shadows and shapes. As the months passed her vision continued to dim.

“Maybe it will clear up after I give birth,” she told herself, hoping that the loss of sight was somehow linked to her pregnancy. But once she’d delivered her twin babies, a boy and a girl, 30-year-old Adama had to face the truth. She was blind. She would never see the faces of her beautiful babies. Adama had no access to affordable, safe surgery to restore her vision.

“I held my babies after they were born, and I couldn’t see their faces. I thought this would last forever; that I would never know what they look like. I was very desperate,” Adama said. “I didn’t have any hope.”

Adama and her family moved in with her older sister, Aissatou, who became their caretaker. Aissatou welcomed them lovingly, but with her own children to take care of, the burden was heavy.

“It’s been a very hard year,” Aissatou reflected in tears. For Adama, the reliance on her sister was challenging in a different way. The sudden inability to take care of her own children left her feeling guilty.

“Since my eyes are dark, I can’t walk alone, go to the market, cook, do laundry... I can’t do anything without help.” Adama’s blindness lasted for almost a year, but then Adama’s husband heard that Mercy Ships was coming to Guinea.

For this family, the arrival of the Africa Mercy and its onboard state-of-the-art hospital meant more than just free surgery. It meant giving Adama the chance to step out of the darkness. It meant empowering her to take care of her family instead of depending on others for help. It meant seeing her loved ones again. It meant hope.

Adama’s surgery took about 20 minutes, 20 minutes is all

ADAMA’S SIGHT RESTORED

it took to restore her future. When it was time for Adama’s patches to come off, as each patch was peeled back, Adama kept her eyes closed for a few moments. Would her sight be fully restored?

Gradually, Adama opened her eyes. A smile slowly spread across her face as she realised she was seeing the world again for the first time in almost a year! Her family members, gathered nearby, were some of the first people Adama saw. She walked by herself to greet them, no guiding hand needed.

“When I die and will go to paradise and meet my own people there... that’s what the moment was like.” She reached for her twins, drinking in the details of their faces for the first time. Tiny noses; long eyelashes; round cheeks - Adama cradled them both in her arms at the same time, eyes dancing between the two.

“I never expected that my babies would be so beautiful,” she murmured. The cataract surgery Adama received with Mercy Ships took less than half an hour, but the impact of her restored sight will reverberate throughout the rest of her life. There will likely be countless moments where Adama rejoices because of the ability to see again —but it’s hard to imagine a moment more meaningful than a mother’s patient love being rewarded with the sight of her children for the first time.



56 Developing nations visited

592 Port visits by our ships

95,000+ Life-changing surgical procedures provided

445,000+ Dental procedures provided

6,315+ Healthcare professionals trained to train others

42,250+ Professionals trained in their field of expertise

2.7 million Lives impacted

MERCY SHIPS: A LASTING IMPACT

Since 1978, Mercy Ships has provided services and materials in developing nations valued at more than £1.2 billion.

#CHANGE THE ODDS



“Having visited Mercy Ships and seen the work in action, I endorse the mechanisms by which Mercy Ships transforms lives and sustains communities. Rotary International works in similar ways, from needs analysis to sustainability. As worldwide organisations with a passion for humanitarian service we are both working to raise the profile of the global health agenda.” Reverend Debbie Hodge, President of Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland

(Rotary in GBI) 2018/19.

Rotary in GBI President 2019/2020 Donna Wallbank supports the Multi District collaboration in developing this opportunity and recognises the humanitarian benefits which might be gained with this excellent initiative.

HOW CAN WE BE PART OF THE AGENDA?

A new ship is on the horizon, the Global Mercy. Rotary International has the opportunity, through a one million dollar Global Grant, to change the health outcomes of not just a few countries but a whole continent!

A Global Grants Team has been formed within the Foundation Committee of D1260 (where Mercy Ships UK

office is located) to administer the Grant. The timeline to enable grant money to be available for the Mercy Ships programme means that the application must be submitted to the Rotary Foundation by the 1st January 2020 for review by the Trustees in April 2020.

The Grant will provide a range of sophisticated medical equipment for Decks 3 & 4 of the new ship; hospital decks with six operating theatres, three infection isolation rooms, 147 ward beds, six post-operative recovery beds and four intensive care beds.

In view of the large sum the Grants Team is inviting Districts worldwide to donate with District Designated Funds (DDF), say $10,000 or more if possible. Pledges from both Districts and Clubs ($300 or more, please) need to be sent by email to PDG Paul Denton, D1260 Global Grants Chair by December 1st at the latest. ([email protected]). using US$ as the currency.

THE ROTARY FOUNDATION VIEW

Debbie Hodge, President Rotary in GBI 2018-2019, has discussed the project in person with Senior Grant Management at the Rotary Foundation, including Abby McNear, Director of Grants. The same Grant conditions are required as for all Global Grants, and the application will not be put to the Trustees until all questions are answered and concerns satisfied.

In particular, the Trustees will need a firm timeline for the completion of the ship, project fundraising completion, identification of the specific equipment to be funded by the Grant, and details of the local capacity building activities.

All of these items will be agreed with Mercy Ships over the next few months, working closely with the Rotary Foundation.

We hope you will support this UK initiative. At this stage, only pledges are involved and no money will be required until the Rotary Foundation Trustees are completely satisfied that the Global Grants guidelines for Global Grants are met, and have sanctioned payment.

Email for Paul Denton: [email protected]

Reverend Debbie Hodge, President of Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland 2018/19.

ROTARY’S $1MILLION DOLLAR CHALLENGEMercy Ships new “Global Mercy” Global Grant


Call us: 01438 727800 Email us: [email protected] mercyships.org.uk/rotaryRegistered Charity No: 1053055. Registered Charity in Scotland No. SC039743. Company No: 3147724 (England and Wales)

ERADICATING DISEASES OF POVERTY through a $1m dollar Rotary Foundation Global Grant

Mercy Ships new “Global Mercy” Global Grant ROTARY’S ......The addition of the Global Mercy,...

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