The U.S. Military Sealift Command has issued the following news release concerning the hospital ship USNS Mercy, which is crewed by members of the SIU Government Services Division.Mariners' Band-Aid Boats Expand Reach of Humanitarian Mission
By Laura M. Seal, MSC Public Affairs
“I’ll take ‘em,” said Michael Keller, pointing to two standard Navy utility boats that had been sitting unused in the San Diego boatyard since they were built in 1993.
The Navy considered these boats outdated, but Keller saw potential for a very special mission.
This was February 2006, and Keller, a civilian mariner for the Navy’s Military Sealift Command, was in San Diego preparing hospital ship USNS Mercy for its upcoming five-month humanitarian mission in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia.
“When Mercy responded to the December 2004 tsunami by deploying on a humanitarian mission in Southeast Asia, we learned some valuable lessons about the logistics of transporting patients and medical staff to and from the ship,” said Keller, who was chief mate on last year’s mission and fulfills the same role now.
“We had helicopters, but we were also very successful at transporting doctors, patients and cargo with RHIB (rigid-hull inflatable boats) boats,” said Keller.
Though not part of the initial mission plan, Keller took the initiative to build on last year’s small boat operations’ success and acquire two boats, known affectionately by all as the ‘Band-Aid’ boats, for use. Donated by the Navy, these boats have proven to be a key component in the success of Mercy’s current mission.
Mercy is on a humanitarian mission in the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia and is crewed by 66 civil service mariners — some of whom are members of the SIU Government Services Division. The federally employed mariners operate and navigate the ship while military personnel and volunteers from non-governmental organizations team up with local doctors to provide much-needed treatment to patients at each stop.
But, Mercy’s doctors and nurses can’t treat patients that they can’t get to. Since Mercy’s missions are scheduled in places with no existing ports, the ship must anchor off shore. This is where the mariners and the Band-Aid boats that they operate come-in.
“The Band-Aid boats are wonderful,” said Capt. Joseph Moore, USN, commander of Mercy’s Medical Treatment Facility. “We would not have been able to treat nearly the number of people that we have without them.”
Each Band-Aid boat can take about 45 passengers at a time, three times the number that can be moved by either of the two helicopters on board Mercy.
In 43 days of operations at six stops in the Philippines and Indonesia, the boats transported approximately 5,000 people as well as medical and building equipment to and from the ship. The only stop at which the boats were not utilized was in Bangladesh, because the ship was operating too far off shore.
Painted white by Mercy’s mariners, the Band-Aids, like the ship that they support, are marked with red crosses. Each one also has the likeness of a Band-Aid bandage painted on the steering column, one with a “1” painted in the center of the bandage and the other with a “2”.
Every Day, Without Fail
Preparations for Band-Aid boat operations begin before sunrise at around 5 a.m. On the first day in each location the pontoon ramp also has to be lowered and attached to the ship so that passengers can safely load and unload.
Each boat is assigned three mariners: two from the deck department to steer and operate the boat and one from the engineering department to monitor and repair the engine if necessary.
Keller, Third Mate Richard Paramore, Able Seamen Dale Witham and Timothy Wheelock and Boatswain Mate Renato “Speedy” Gonzalez are the regular drivers. Engine Utilities Michael Sarne, Jun Panganiban and Virgilio Abad and Deck Machinists Jamie Boniog and Daniel DeLeon are the engineers.
Before the boats are lowered into the water, the engineers check fuel, oil and water. The process of lowering the boats and assembling the pontoon ramp can be dangerous, particularly in rough seas, but under the watchful eye of Boatswain Tommy Payne, there have been no major incidents during these operations.
Each morning around 6:30 a.m., the first of over 100 mission personnel who will go to shore gather to begin boarding the Band-Aids.
On most days, from the first early-morning run through the last late in the evening, the Band-Aids ferry passengers non-stop from ship to shore and back again. This adds up to 12 to 16 hour days for the mariners who crew the boats.
“It’s a long day, but I love it. It’s really good to help all of those people,” said Paramore.
Unfaltering energy is not all that the mariners require to run the boats. “The real key is the seamanship of the people doing the boating,” said Capt. Bradley Martin, USN, the humanitarian mission commander.
The mariners on board the Band-Aid boats must approach piers in unfamiliar and uncharted waters, sometimes in rough seas.
On their fist trip out from the ship in a new anchorage, the mariners have to move carefully through the water, slowly tracking the best route by trial and error.
In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, as the tide went out in the afternoon and the waters changed, Paramore and Witham got advice on the best route back to the ship by using hand gestures to talk to a local fisherman. They discussed how deep into the water the boat was and the fisherman showed them the way.
A Friendly Face
Not only do the mariners in the Band-Aid Boats transport patients, they provide them with care and support as they and their loved ones make the journey to Mercy for treatment. For those patients unfamiliar with hospitals, ships and the English language, this journey is a huge leap of faith.
“The mariners are remarkable in the amount of sensitivity and care that they have shown in helping people to get on and off the ship,” said Martin. “They have served as excellent ambassadors for Mercy.”
Witham is a giant of a man, and with a bandana tied around his head, he is a rather imposing figure. But a certain softness in his face reassures passengers boarding the boat. He stands on the edge of the boat reaching up to people boarding and holds them steady.
“You gotta let them go at their own speed,” said Witham. “If you rush them they won’t feel comfortable. Some people want to climb in on their own and some people we have to lift in.”
Even the engineers on board the Band Aid boats turn their eyes from the gauges that they are there to monitor and check on the patients in addition to the motor.
On June 1, a young woman on board one of the Band-Aid boats in Zamboanga, Philippines began to cry. Her body temperature was so high that her face was beet red. Mariner Virgilio Abad, an engine utility on Mercy, knelt down in front of her and asked in Filipino, “What is it?” “Can I get you some water?” She couldn’t respond. “It will just be 20 minutes to the ship,” he said, and for that 20 minutes he stayed by her side to reassure her.
In the Philippines, Filipino mariners like Abad, Gonzalez, Sarne and DeLeon were able to further ease the worries of passengers by speaking to them in their own language.
“It is like going home to help my own people,” said Abad.
These are just some examples of the empathy and individual care that the mariners working on these boats have shown to the local people.
“If it weren’t for the Band-Aid boats, this mission certainly wouldn’t have touched as many people as it has,” said Capt. Robert T. Wiley, Mercy’s civilian master. “Over the course of our mission, our utility boats have moved over five-times the number of passengers and equipment than the helos have at a fraction of the cost, making them the most cost effective and high volume means of ship-to-shore transportation for this deployment.”
The medical personnel on this mission have so far seen more than 40,000 patients both on the ship and at local hospitals ashore. In addition, the Seabee unit aboard, along with some of Mercy’s CIVMARs, has helped with infrastructure improvement projects at almost every locale.
Mercy will leave its last humanitarian stop in late August and is scheduled to return home to San Diego the last week of September.
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