Hospital ship calls for engineer
It seems that her first experience aboard the Africa Mercy made quite an impression on St. Catharines resident Sara Wegener.
We spoke with her in January 2016 after the now 28-year-old returned from spending just over two months on the world’s largest hospital ship while helping people in Madagascar.
The marine engineering graduate said that initially she felt that sea-time was more important than a 9 to 5 job and that volunteering was a good way of giving back.
She recalled it as a life-changing experience — so when they messaged her to come back, she was quick to answer.
“I must have made an impression, I was home for a month, and they just emailed, ‘Can you come back?’
“I wanted to do a longer stint the first time, but I wasn’t prepared to extend it.” She was this time. “I needed to get vaccinations, was more prepared and this time stayed for 10½ months.”
Promoted to the ship’s third engineer, the holder of an honours bachelor degree in biological physics said she has found her ideal job.
“I grin like an idiot when I step on a ship.”
But she admitted that the honeymoon period was over the second time around. With the promotion came a lot more work and she oversaw a team of seven people.
Wearing overalls and plaid shirt, she with her team performed major generator overhauls while the ships were in dock. And those times when they weren’t working on the ship they would help out in areas of South Africa that were very impoverished.
“There was a whole bunch of Canadian girls that liked to make clothing and supplies so we set up a table in the middle of nowhere in an area that looked very impoverished and the children lined up, I wasn’t part of that the first time.”
She recalled being asked one time to donate blood because of an emergency need in the hospital. The floating hospital includes five operating theatres, recovery, an intensive care unit and 80 patient beds.
The 16,500-tonne vessel is the largest operated by global charity Mercy Ships, a faith-based organization delivering free health-care services to people in the developing world.
As well the ship has laboratory services, an X-ray unit and CT scan.
“We went from Madagascar to Durban in South Africa while a team goes forward and does an advance screening. It’s months of work to have whole towns line up and to be screened.”
Wegener said she helped in one community where 700 people had lined up for one day. It took three weeks in total to screen the town.
“In the hospitals, you have to pay for water, pay for mosquito netting, for the bed, most people can’t afford it.”
She hopes to encourage others to volunteer, adding that it’s not just doctors and nurses that they need.
“So many skills that can be used, technical teams, electricians even laundry services, everyone is needed.”
Just now settling in back at home, she is planning to pursue the next level of her marine engineering, but she knows she already has an open invitation on the hospital ship.