2014 Ships Log – Medical Sailing Ministries

Latest Vanuatu NEWS – Medical Mission to Maewo (Follow Blog)

Greetings,

Just a short note to touch base …

… with the news that whilst we haven’t taken the yacht Chimere to Vanuatu this year, we are continuing to assist with the recruitment and operation of health missions to the outer islands and the building up of the oral health program – The Vanuatu Dental Care Service.

Further news will be sent out at a later date, but the latest news is that we have an 11 person team (including local “Ni-Van” health care workers) on the remote island of Maewo. (just landed)

Where is Maewo, (pron: My-Woe) I hear you say?

Well check out the blog at the following link …

http://pcvmaewoaugust2014.wordpress.com/

In addition, there’s a link to the (just returned) July mission blog to the island of Pentecost (just south of Maewo) …

http://pcvpentecostjuly2014.wordpress.com/

pentecost-july-2014

Feel free to get back in touch if you’d like to know more, or you know a medical person, (eg dentist, dental assistant or therapist, doctor, optometrist, nurse etc) who’d like to volunteer for future missions – as it turns out we have further missions in late September (ie next month) and early October.

All the best and many thanks for your interest and encouragement

Cheers

Rob Latimer

www.msm.org.au supporting PCV Health

Greetings from Medical Sailing Ministries

Thank you for your interest in the work of MSM and PCV Health.

Whilst we will not be using the yacht this year, we continue to assist the PCV Health program in a range of areas, including:

1. Recruiting dental volunteers to operate the PCV Health Dental Clinic for 1-2 weeks each month

2. Recruiting and operating three Medical Outreach Missions, (May-August 2014) incorporating dental, optical and medical services, to the islands of Ambrym, Pentecost & Maewo. Transport for these missions will be by local plane, 4WD and small coastal boats.

Volunteers Required

Full details of this year’s mission can be found in the 2014 PCV Health Volunteers Manual

The three missions will be conducted at the following times:

TEAM 1      22 May–5 June (Ambrym)
TEAM 2      3–17 July   (Pentecost)
TEAM 3      14–28 August   (Maewo)

Each team will comprise local, Ni-Van Health Care Workers, but will also require the following volunteers:

Co-ordinator x 1
Dentist x 2

Dental Nurses, x 2

Doctor x 1
Optometrist x 1

What’s it like ?

To learn more about what it’s like to volunteer, a PCV Clinic Handbook has been prepared

In addition, here are some diary entries from past volunteers that convey more of the “personal reflection” side of things:

A medical perspective …

Insights from a medical outpost

101 ways to enjoy breadfruit

A tale of two babies

Getting the right balance

Again, thank you for your interest and we welcome any comments of questions you might have. If you or a friend would like to know more about volunteering, we’d also love to hear from you

All the best

Rob Latimer & Mike Clarke

Co-ordinators Medical Sailing Ministries