The Night-Shift

Serving Dinner - the volunteers rotate while between location

There have been many firsts on this mission, but in the last two days I have switched to the dark side. I was never one of those who could pull an all-nighter studying for exams and in my career thus far I have never been a night-shift nurse. However, I have found that it is probably easier on the USNS Mercy ship to work through the night than it would be in what we would call 'normal' life. There are few windows and you have to make an effort to go outside, so I have gone 3-4 days before I realize I have missed the sun and to be honest, it's just too hot to go outside. Things I have come to appreciate and have a new perspective... The ship still functions at night:

Standing Watch - day and night

- I am thankful to the kitchen crew who put out midrats (midnight rations) for our 'lunch time' meal. 

-I appreciate my corpsman who sweep and swab the deck (floor) at 2am. (Sidenote... I have been swabbing the last two days and every night I try and make the mopping an excuse for going to the gym. My corpsman always shake their heads and say, oh no Miss Kelly swabbing is no substitute for the gym.) So 3:00am comes around and the wards are quiet and sleeping and now is perfect time for the staff to go to the gym in rotations. This keeps everyone from falling asleep!

-Again, such a blessing to get to work out while 'working'.

-The ships security still man their posts and roam the ships P-ways (halls).

-Translators are volunteering on this mission and switching their internal clocks with us in order to make communication possible.

-The Internet is faster! Still dial up speed, but better than trying to load a webpage while on the day shift.

-Chaplain May still has evening Sunday service and my staff covers for me so I can go worship.

-I went to do laundry at 1am and every washer was open!!! I did not have to wait and I could do more than one load!

- When it's 4am here it's 4pm in Oklahoma and 2 pm in California. And I was able to catch up with a friend for an hour because there was no one waiting for the phone after my 20 min limit!!

- The sun rise is very peaceful!

MCS Lowering the Bandaid Boat

Another portion of the ship that I should be more thankful for is the MSC staff. The Military Sealift Command is comprised of Civmars or Civilian Mariners (professional sailors). They run our ship and its pretty important even if much of their work is behind the scenes. Civmars navigate the ship, run the engine room, and perform the maintenance on pretty much everything! 

Something that stood out last night was as I was concluding my shift, I went to watch the sun rise at 0530 and there was a team of six men preparing the ‘band-aid boat’ (our ship to shore transportation) for  the day.

One man fueled the ship as it hung by on crane while two others boarded the band-aid boat and prepared to load it into the water. It truly was a team effort to tether the boat down into the water and ensure it did not hit against the USNS Mercy. Once the band-aid boat hit the water, all the ropes were quickly released put in forward drive to steady out the rocking. 

A the Bandaid boat is ready to welcome patients

Next the Civmars began to raise the sun cover, one man lifted the canvas as the other placed the posts to create a protective cover. Amazing to think that this was all done before the sunrise and this bout would continue shuttling patients and staff to and from the shore in the hot sun clear till midnight. I have a new appreciation for the Civmars!