Screening

We had an incredibly successful screening this field service.  We estimate that around 4,000 people came to be seen.  However, things did not seem that way in the beginning.

Part of the line outside the stadium screening morning.

Having learned from the tragedy of the first screening in Sierra Leone last year we carried on with something that we employed at the second screening that went so well – an overnight security team.  Once again I had the privilege of being a member of the Advance Security Party, as our Ship Security Officer dubbed it, as the leader of A Team (I love it when a plan comes together).  There were twelve of us in total split into two teams.  We left the ship at 14.00 on the 31^st of January to prepare for the screening the following day.  We arrived at the stadium screening site at around 15.00 and immediately set up the command post (dumped a bunch of gear at the top of the steps).  We got straight to work stringing lines of caution tape to demarcate lanes of patient flow.  The wind was kickin’ pretty good and the runs were long between objects to tie to.  One of the members of A Team devised a method of securing the lines with rocks as anchors.  It worked great.  After performing a number of other tasks to get things set up as much as possible before we lost daylight, we got together and made a plan for posting watches at the different security points.  The Ship Security Officer made the mistake of giving all of us radios, which we misused frequently cracking jokes and generally having a good time. 

As the night wore on some of the guys got a bit of shut-eye but most of us stayed awake the entire night.  We had a few people in the line in the late afternoon and it was great to be there to get the line started and set expectations right away.  Forming a good line early on is one of the most important tasks in ensuring a safe screening.  Also, a couple of nurses from the ship came to the site at 22.00 to start pre-pre-screening (yes, I intentionally put two pre’s in that) the patients in the line so that the ones we couldn’t help didn’t have to wait all night.  We only had a couple hundred people in line at the most at that point.  A few trickled in through the night but things were pretty slow.  An emergency coffee run was made by one of the team members around 02.00.

A sleep deprived J.D., me, and Tim around 07.00
screening morning.



At about 04.00 people started pouring in.  The line grew incredibly fast and our preparations the night before started to pay dividends.  We strung more caution tape as necessary and interacted with the patients in line.  We had a great time overall.  The day shift security team arrived on site at about 05.00 and made their way out to the lines after a lengthy briefing.  The fact that screening went so well and the day shift folks were bored most of the day is, in large part, a tribute to the work done by the night shift crew, a group of people that I am proud to have worked with.  That being said, the work that we did, while important, was only a piece of a very large puzzle.  There were a lot of folks putting an immense amount of time, planning, and effort into getting thing organized and the entire day was very much a team effort, including the Stewards Department.

Grace came out a bit later on in the morning and worked as a patient escort for the day.  She thoroughly enjoyed her time, especially after having had to leave the first screening in Sierra Leone early on when we evacuated the site because of the continued tension in the crowd. 

I left the site at around 09.00 when it was clear that things were going off without a hitch.  Thousands of people will receive physical healing and feel the love of Christ during our field service here in Togo.  This screening was a big part of that.  I will endeavor to post some patient stories over the coming months so you can see some of the lives that are changed during our time here as the story continues.  - Peter

One of the patients that we will soon provide surgery for onboard.