The Rotary Foundation partners with global charity Mercy Ships

Alfred's smile tells it all - holding a 'before' picture

Wellingtonian nurse Alison Brieseman is grateful to the Rotary Clubs of Plimmerton, Lower Hutt, Silverstream and Heretaunga whose joint sponsorship has been a key component of her volunteer work with Mercy Ships.

Wellingtonian nurse Alison Brieseman grateful
for the support of Rotary

For seven years ports of call in Benin, Sierra Leone, and Liberia have been a way of life for Alison. As Director of Nursing on the Africa Mercy she was responsible for the function of the six operating theatres, three wards and the intensive care unit onboard. While surgeries are being performed onboard, optical and dental clinics, agricultural and sanitation projects are delivered ashore. The ship has all the medical facilities required to be self-sufficient in its world-class services, provided at no cost. 

“Treatment is of the highest standard even if the working conditions are a little different.”
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Mercy Ships programmes promote health and well-being by serving the urgent surgical needs of the world’s forgotten poor and empowering developing communities. Since 1978, Mercy Ships has provided services in developing nations valued at more than $NZ 1.1 billion, including the following:

• Performed more than 47,000 life-changing operations such as cleft lip and palate repair, cataract removal, orthopaedic procedures, facial reconstruction and obstetric fistula repair.
• Treated over 422,120 patients in village clinics with more than 456,400 procedures performed.
• Treated over 95,800 dental patients with more than 228,100 dental procedures performed.
• Trained over 15,300 local health-care professionals who have in turn trained many others.
• Taught 125,800 local people in basic health care.
• Completed over 1,085 community development projects focusing on water and sanitation, education, infrastructure development and agriculture.

For more information contact msnz@mercyships.org or www.mercyships.org.nz