Thursday, August 21, 2008

One More to Go!!


Dear Family & Friends,

As I’m writing this to you, we are just about to cross the Equator headed back to the northern half of our planet. We said our goodbyes to the great folks in Port Moresby three days ago.

As I’m sure you can guess, each mission site is different and successes can be measured in many different ways. Nonetheless, I believe our stop in Papua New Guinea was perhaps our most successful in how we were received by the local population. The people we met were some of the kindest, friendliest, and gave us the warmest of welcomes wherever we went.

Here are just a few of the numbers from the PNG mission:

Total Patients Seen: 25,175 (roughly 10% of the population!)
Surgeries Performed: 346 (including 73 by Operation Smile)
Bio-Medical Repairs: $640,300 worth of equipment bought back into operation.
Training & Education: 1,953 Contact Hours.
Veterinary: 982 Animals seen & treated.

Additionally our engineering teams of U.S. Navy Seabees, Royal Australian Engineers, and Indian Army Engineers completed nine construction projects. We constructed two 1,550 square foot medical clinics and renovated seven other rural clinics.

I’m also happy to report our Australian hiker friend, Ms. Debra Paver, departed Mercy a few days before we left. She was headed back to Melbourne with her family and looks to make a full recovery. Her story got a lot of press in Melbourne as well as throughout Australia.

So we are now down to our last mission! We will soon be at the island of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia. With this magnificent crew we have aboard, I’m confident this mission will be as successful as the rest!

More to come…

Bob

4 comments:

Tempeh said...

Thank you all for your service to the people on this mission and to our country. Safe travels home. P.S. You owe your wife a very nice belated birthday dinner.

BarrioRunner said...

Capt. Bob

You are the last leg of this great PP08 that has reached so many people. You and all those that were part of PP08 should feel good about the work that has been done.

To note for your readers, I read this story today in the Philippines newspaper.

Sunday, August 24, 2008


Police, army rescue kidnapped doctor


GENERAL SANTOS CITY: Policemen backed by army soldiers rescued a kidnapped doctor after killing one of her captors in Mindanao, officials said on Saturday.

Officials said three gunmen seized Dr. Milagros Yap outside the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in Cotabato City in Maguindanao province on Friday.

I am wondering if your crew had worked with this doctor in Cotabato on your first mission in the beginning of PP08?

Thank your crew for their great service.

LIC USN Ret.

Navy Mom said...

Hello Captain Wiley,

I am so happy for all the good experiences you all having with helping people in need. Best is, to see their happiness and appreciation, you all are doing great and this mission just rocks.
My daughter HM2 Daniela Dietsch was driving one of the Band Aid Boats yesterday and I just love the pictures, her beaming bright and happy. You really have a very dedicated crew on your vessel, otherwise a task like this could not have been done. Kudos to you all, you have the admiration of many and more people.

As always, take good care of your crew and yourself, you all are very precious..........

sincerely and I'll see you soon,
Renate Di-Do :):):)

vis-a-vis said...

Great job everyone!

Also visited the ship's website; the photos in the various powerpoint files are outstanding.

Thanks to all for pulling together and performing this monumental undertaking!