Mercy Ships to Build Another Hospital Ship
The MSC Foundation, the MSC Group and Mercy Ships International have joined forces to build a new hospital ship.On 8 April, the chairman of MSC Group and MSC Foundation, Capt. Gianluigi Aponte, MSC Group President and Member of the MSC Foundation Board, Diego Aponte, and Mercy Ships Founder, Don Stephens, finalized an agreement to kickstart the new project with a generous anchor donation from MSC Foundation.The new purpose-built hospital ship will expand the impact of Mercy Ships’ life-changing surgeries…
Mercy Ships Founder Receives Service Award
Mercy Ships, a global charity based in Garden Valley, Texas, operates the world’s largest civilian hospital ship. Mercy Ships founder Don Stephens was recognized this week with the Daily Point of Light Award from Points of Light, a U.S. organization dedicated to volunteer service. The national award was presented at a special event held at the River Oaks Country Club in Houston. The event, “Advancing Hope and Healing in Africa,” featured President George W. Bush and Laura Bush.
Ebola Outbreak Delays Mercy Ships Sail to Africa
Collateral hardship from the Ebola epidemic now includes a delay for Mercy Ships, which operates the world’s largest civilian hospital ship in ports on the West Coast of Africa. Already with one canceled deployment to Guinea, where Ebola first broke out last December, the Mercy Ship now waits in the water with crew and staff, pending an end-of-August decision on field service in Benin. The Mercy Ship was due to sail for the port of Cotonou, Benin, for its 10-month field service…
Boston Doctor's Dramatic Surgery Aboard Mercy Ship
A volunteer surgeon from Boston saved a child’s life in an urgent and complex surgery performed onboard the world’s largest non-governmental hospital ship, the 'Africa Mercy'. Dr. Mark Shrime performed the surgery to remove a 'fist sized' tumor from the throat of a four-year-old boy who was slowly suffocating. It was performed in one of the five operating rooms on the hospital ship with a team of professional medical volunteers from five countries. The surgeon had met the four-year-old boy named Emmanoel in Pointe Noir, Congo.
Maintaining the Ship of Mercy
International faith-based organization Mercy Ships has used ships as traveling hospitals since 1978, providing health services to millions of people from the world’s poorest countries. Gathering praise from figures such as Nelson Mandella, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush and Tony Blair, the organization and its work have had a vast impact globally with more than 2.42 million direct beneficiaries to date and an estimated cumulative work bill near $1 billion. Funded primarily through private donations, Mercy Ships is now operating its fourth vessel, Africa Mercy.
Mercy Ships Expand Reach to Central Africa
Protocols have been signed for a Mercy Hospital Ship to dock in Congo-Brazzaville’s western port city of Pointe Noire. Meetings with the Republic of the Congo’s Ministries of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Congo-Brazzaville’s western port city of Pointe Noire this past week culminated in the signing of agreements to confirm that a Mercy Ship will dock in this Central African nation as its next African port of call. An initial protocol was signed in the nation by HE President Denis Sassou Nguesso during a visit by Mercy Ships President/Founder Don Stephens in May 2012.
World’s Largest Civilian Hospital Ship Back In Action
With four new GenSets from MAN Diesel & Turbo, the civilian hospital ship Africa Mercy is back in action off the coasts of Africa helping to provide free medical care to people in need. The Augsburg-based manufacturer of large-bore diesel engines and turbomachinery had provided the aid organisation Mercy Ships with four engines of type 5L21/31 at special cost, and these have now been installed in Durban, South Africa. MAN Diesel & Turbo had already given the on-board electricity generators, which cover the entire hospital ship’s power requirements, to the charitable organisation last year.
Mercy Ships Arrives In War-Torn Liberia
The Mercy Ship Anastasis has arrived in Monrovia, Liberia for her first ever visit to the war torn West African nation. At the urging of United Nations officials, the Liberian Government and the National Council of Churches, Mercy Ships will provide a full slate of specialized medical services as well as community development assistance over the next four months. Mercy Ships will offer desperately needed operations and medical procedures unavailable in Liberia such as tumor removals and cleft lip/palate repair. According to US AID, the Liberian civil war (1989-1996, 1999-2003) claimed the lives of more than 150,000 Liberians and further displaced approximately 850,000 others into refugee camps.
