The best job in the world

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"And now, may all the glory be for God, who can achieve much more than we could ask for or even imagine by his great power acting in us." 
(Ephesians 3:20 NLT)

                              

Can you imagine a hospital full of people with deformities in different parts of their body, poor, abandoned and rejected, even labeled as "cursed"? 
Can you imagine them smiling and dancing? 
Can you imagine a hospital where everyone who works there does not receive a salary? 
Can you imagine a hospital where part of the "job" is dancing, singing, playing and hugging patients and their caregivers? 
Can you imagine a hospital where you have to do 1 or 2 translations to be able to communicate with patients and their families? 
Can you imagine a hospital where each change of shift and each surgery includes prayer? 
Can you imagine 80 hospital beds, an intensive care unit, 5 surgery rooms and a post-anesthesia recovery room, pharmacy, clinical laboratory and blood bank, X-rays, scans and ultrasounds, all in one floating hospital? 
Can you imagine a team of chaplains who visit the patients every morning during the week with songs and stories from the Bible? Can you imagine a Sunday with a service with praise, dance (in Africa, it is inevitable!) and testimonies of the love of God, in a hospital?

Well, I did not imagine it. This job is much more than I could ask or imagine, and I can only thank God!!! Here I am not only a nurse, here I am Susy, smiling and laughing, hugging, dancing and taking caring of others. 
I work in rotating shifts in the morning, afternoon and evening, and I have off days every 3 or 4 shifts. My responsibilities include administering medications, assessing the patients, taking their vital signs, changing dressings, managing their nutrition and, in cases where patients need intensive care, I am part of the group of nurses who are trained to take care of them as well. I am very grateful to God for all the tools He has given me to take care of "stable" patients and also those who need a lot of help after their surgery. I must confess that it has been a challenge and a learning process. The surgeries that are done here are quite complex, and require a lot of care during recovery. God has helped me learn how to take care of these patients and I enjoy it very much!

                      
                           
 

Nurses are a big part of the hospital's team, they participate in the screening process to choose the patients that will have surgery, in admissions, at postoperative control appointments for patients, handling complex wounds, in infection control, in the post-anesthesia recovery unit, in the surgery rooms assisting the surgeons with the surgical instruments, and participating in the general anesthesia of the patient. They also participate in educational sessions in the city of Douala for health workers from Cameroon. 

In addition to the doctors who work in the hospital (maxillofacial surgeons, orthopedists, plastics, obstetricians, gynecologists, neurosurgeons, general practitioners, ophthalmologists, etc.), there are also anesthesiologists, pharmacists, radiology technicians, laboratory technicians, nutritionists and physiotherapists. 

The work we do here would not be possible if we did not have translators to be able to communicate with patients and their families. They are a group of people from the country where the ship is located, in this case Cameroon, and in addition to translating day and night throughout the hospital, they also support cleaning and feeding tasks. 
The bond created with them is very special, they are part of the team, I learn French with them, we laugh and dance with patients and as the African culture includes hugs as part of friendships, with each hug I receive I recharge myself love and energy.

It has been a month and a half since I arrived here, and I have no doubt that this job is the job of my dreams, the best in the world. I pray that each day I can bring the love of God to the hospital, that my faith will be strong while praying for my patients and that by caring for them they can see Jesus through me. 

Thanks for all your support, you are part of this job too!

*If you want to be part of my faith-based job, please consider donating to cover my crew fees and personal expenses. Click here https://mercyships-us.donorpages.com/crewmates/SusyHorta/ or send me an e-mail to susy.hortabuitrago@mercyships.org

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