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NEWS Mother and son volunteer in Africa " I heard w hat great work they were doing and wanted to see if I could contribute." Graham Paine/Metroland Nancy Eichenberg and her son Daniel volunteered aboard the Africa Mercy hospital ship off Cameroon, Central Africa. MARTA MARYCHUK mmarychuk@oakvillebeaver.com An Oakville mother and son took part in a humani­ tarian expedition on the world's largest charity hos­ pital, the Africa Mercy, which provides free opera­ tions and medical training in Third World countries. Nancy and Daniel Ei­ chenberg were part of the 400 people, who volun­ teered for the hospital ship that was docked in Douala, Cameroon in Central Afri­ ca, Nancy, a retired operat­ ing room nurse, volun­ teered for four weeks while her son Daniel, 40, volun­ teered in housekeeping for six weeks - cleaning and disinfecting patient wards and filling supplies. "I heard what great work they were doing and wanted to see if I could con­ tribute," said Daniel, who works for Oakville BMW. Mother and son paid their own travelling ex­ penses, leaving Toronto at the end of September, fly­ ing to Brussels, Belgium, before reaching Camer­ oon. "It was very hot," says Nancy. Nancy, who was an op­ erating nurse for 51 years at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, has volunteered for more than six years with Mercy Ships in sever­ al countries - Benin, Mada­ gascar, the Republic of Congo and Guinea, in addi­ tion to Cameroon. However, this will prob­ ably be the last time Nancy volunteers for Mercy Ships. "I'm fortunate that my mom will pass the reigns to me," adds David, who plans to return in a couple of - Daniel Eichenberg years. "I'm very supportive of their work." David says surgeries done on Mercy Ships bene­ fits the forgotten poor in many ways - physically, mentally, socially and im­ proving their self-image. Some of the patients have large facial tumours, while children have mus­ cles and tendons that have warped, a result of malaria injections. "This is really life changing surgery for these people," says Nancy. She saw a television program on the Discovery Channel and thought Mer­ cy Ships would be a good way for her to do a bit of nursing after retirement. For Daniel, he wanted to get experience that would help open doors for a hos­ pital housekeeping job at Oakville Trafalgar Memo­ rial Hospital. He has studied at Sheri­ dan College, in Oakville, and Mackenzie College, in Halifax, in addition to earning a certificate for de­ contamination, steriliza­ tion and reprocessing med­ ical devices, from St. Mi­ chael's Hospital. Mercy Ships uses vol­ unteer-run hospital ships to provide free surgeries and medical training in de­ veloping nations. Founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 70 countries. The 499-foot ship hous­ es five operating theatres and a 78-bed patient ward, specializing in free surger­ ies that treat diseases, inju­ ries and defects in the head, neck, face and jaws, as well as reconstructive, orthopedic, ophthalmic, dental and obstetric sur­ geries. A full-time crew of workers, hired from the lo­ cal community, run the ship, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the 400 vol­ unteers on board. Although medical care is available in Cameroon, Nancy says people can't af­ ford it since many of the people in Cameroon live below the poverty line. "The people are very ap­ preciative," adds Nancy. T a k e a b r e a k f r o m w i n t e r ! C h a rtw e ll's S hort Stay p rog ram o ffe rs spacious suites, de lic ious d in ing, access to all on-s ite ac tiv ities and am enities, and the level o f service and su p p o rt you need. C a ll to d ay to b o o k your perso nal v isit. CHARTW ELL OAKVILLE 180 O a k P a rk B lvd ., O a k v ille 2 8 9 - 6 4 4 - 2 9 6 0 • C H A R T W E LL .C O M 4 _ C H A R T W e l l retirement residences o | O akville Beaver | T h u rsd a y , Ja n u a ry 1 1 ,2 0 1 8 insidehalton.com mailto:mmarychuk@oakvillebeaver.com Mother and son volunteer in Africa MARTA MARYCHUK Take a break from winter! 4_CHARTWell