GIVING BACK
Tendered to the
Mercy
I
t’s 5:30 AM and the converted oil tanker gently rocks as Dr. Larry
Hogge, his wife, and the rest of the health team muster to review the
day’s onshore clinic schedule. The group, aboard the USNS Mercy,
is already showered, dressed, and fed, with supplies packed for a full
day of providing clinical services. Once volunteers count off in teams,
they disembark and board one of the tenders—a small boat used to ferry
passengers and light cargo—to the shore and the first clinic site. The
term “clinic” is a loose definition, as that day’s site may range from an
established structure which might provide electricity to a string of popup shelters to keep the tropical rain off the team’s portable equipment.
Either way, as the teams pull in to port and jump in the vans to carry them
to that day’s site, they are warmly greeted by large crowds of host nation
citizens, ready to receive needed medical and dental care.
by Anne Baer | Photos by Dr. Hogge and provided by the US Navy
24 // Burkhart dental supply
The Navy tender is lowered in to the water with a full load of USNS
Mercy members headed to shore for triage and setups.
CATALYST MAGAZINE // Issue 3, 2015 // 25
GIVING BACK
ALL ABOARD!
Taking down the tents at the Suva clinic.
Shaun Hogge and Dr. Hogge with
young teenager they had just
treated in Sigma, Philippines
Rain, storm, wind or heat, long lines of people waited to get
treatment. Some traveled 3-4 hours to make the trip, and many
were still turned away because of the overwhelming turn outs.
The USNS Mercy is one of two US naval hospital ships that sail the
world. Its counterpart, the USNS Comfort, focuses on the Caribbean
and Latin and South America, while the USNS Mercy cruises the
waters of the Pacific, calling at ports in the Pacific Rim. The USNS
Mercy’s motto is to “prepare in calm to respond in crisis,” whether that
includes providing medical care in the wake of a typhoon, tsunami, or
military conflict. At other times, their aim is two-fold: provide clinical
services to citizens of host nations and engage in subject matter
expert exchange (SMEE) activities, recognizing that both visitor and
host nations have something to offer and learn from one another.
This past April, USNS Mercy started a 6-month cruise flagged as
the Pacific Partnership, visiting four countries in the Asia Pacific
region. The team was comprised of health professionals from
the US, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia and Australia,
including the naval crew that operates the ship. Dr. Hogge joined
the USNS Mercy in May for a 10-week stint as a team leader to
a team of nearly 1,000 sailors and volunteers visiting Papua New
26 // Burkhart dental supply
Volunteers can select the country in
which they would like to serve and can
stay for as little as two weeks (if they are a
professional) or four weeks (technicians and
assistants). Volunteers are responsible for
their transportation to and from the ship.
Once aboard, the Navy covers all other
expenses including lodging and food.
Dr. Hogge and his wife Shaun caring
for a Fijian woman. The patients
were always grateful to receive help,
and never complained.
A crowd of patients waiting to enter Med Site
in Suva, Fiji during their very first clinic.
Guinea, Fiji, the Philippines, and Micronesia. “It was a great time
in my professional life to do something like this. I have practiced
dentistry in Logan [UT] for 33 years. After working alongside me
for the past couple of years, my son recently took over the practice.
With the practice in good hands, I was able to leave.”
It didn’t take much convincing for Shaun, Dr. Hogge’s wife, to join
in as well. After hearing a physician speak about his experience
on the USNS Comfort at Dr. Hogge’s Rotary Club, Dr. Hogge was
intrigued. He talked to the speaker after the meeting and got contact
information from him. “When I told my wife I wanted to do this, she
thought I was crazy but was very supportive,” Dr. Hogge states. “We
filled out forms, got shots, and the next thing we knew, we were on
a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!” Volunteers on the USNS
Mercy do require another essential component: a sponsor. Since
the hospital ship is considered a working naval vessel, volunteers
are teamed with a non-governmental organization (NGO). NGOs
serve as civilian partners with the Navy’s humanitarian missions,
CATALYST MAGAZINE // Issue 3, 2015 // 27
GIVING BACK
FULLY-EQUIPPED
USNS Mercy has the following onboard:
12 fully-equipped operating rooms,
a 1,000 bed hospital facility, digital
radiological services, a medical laboratory,
a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT
scan and two oxygen producing plants.
Each ship is equipped with a helicopter
deck capable of landing large military
helicopters. The ships also have side
ports to take on patients at sea.
The day after Memorial Day, as the USNS Mercy left Pearl Harbor and passed
the Arizona and the Missouri national monuments, the soldiers gave a salute.
Pictured: (Top left) USNS Mercy at anchor in Rabaul Bay, PNG. (Bottom left)
Shaun and Dr. Hogge got to take a ride in a Navy helicopter. (Right) Preparing
a 21-year-old PNG patient for a bilateral cleft lip repair on board USNS Mercy.
28 // Burkhart dental supply
and are the major suppliers of civilian volunteers. In addition, the
NGO may donate pallets of medical and dental supplies, which
was the case with Dr. Hogge. His sponsoring group was Latter-Day
Saints Charities (LDSC) while his recommendation came from a
colleague, Dr. Bluth, who initially encouraged him to participate in
charitable dentistry. When asked how he got started giving back
via his dental skills, Dr. Hogge recalls, “It was years ago when a
local oral surgeon, Dr. Bluth, invited me to join him in Chihuahua,
Mexico on one of his many trips south of the border. I had
wondered, ‘Why does he do that? How can he afford to be away?’
When I asked him about it, he said, ‘Come and see!’ Since then,
I’ve loved being part of groups doing great things. To paraphrase
Helen Keller, I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but found
my chief duty was to do humble tasks as if they were great and
noble.” In a wonderful turn of events, Dr. Bluth happened to be
aboard the USNS Comfort, USNS Mercy’s sister ship, at the same
time the Hogges were sailing on the USNS Mercy.
Onboard the USNS Mercy, a full hospital and dental clinic serve the
more serious cases encountered onshore. In the dental clinic alone,
there are six operatories-four dedicated to general dentistry, and
the remainder for oral surgery. Dr. Hogge explains how the hospital
ship works in conjunction with the onshore clinics, “Once onshore,
the medical team did all triage and assigned patients to the right
specialist: physician, dentist, pediatrician, OB/GYN, pharmacist,
or eye doctor, giving each patient a unique wristband to help
identify which team they should visit. Purple wrist bands meant
dentistry. Each specialty had its own small tent for treatment. The
dental team usually had four to six dental chairs set up. The Navy
crew prep the site the day before so the volunteers would arrive
and get set up to see patients, about 150-200 per day.”
The medical and dental teams visited about twenty different
clinics during their trip with the USNS Mercy. Describing what
they encountered, Dr. Hogge outlined what procedures were
done onshore versus what was referred to the floating hospital.
CATALYST MAGAZINE // Issue 3, 2015 // 29
GIVING BACK
“We did a lot of extractions, oral cancer screenings, and oral
hygiene instruction as there were dental hygienists with us at all
times. If people needed fillings, they would go to the ship. We
also sent patients to the ship who needed x-rays, or a CAT scan,
panoramic x-ray or biopsy. We found cancer on a fairly frequent
basis and other maladies I had only read about in dental school.
It was a real education.”
According to Dr. Hogge, “One of the best things on this trip was to
get with host country dentists and doctors and work with them on
dental technique-like giving good and effective anesthesia. We
also teamed up with the local dental therapists (similar to dental
hygienists) and worked on how to do a difficult extraction or give
an injection.” Dr. Hogge also thoroughly enjoyed traveling with
a large, multinational team and working alongside dentists and
volunteers from many countries. “To my left would be a dentist
from Malaysia, to my right a dentist from Australia or Japan,”
Dr. Hogge details, “and it provided a great atmosphere.” As for
Naval helicopters take all heavy gear and supplies out to clinic sites.
30 // Burkhart dental supply
CATALYST MAGAZINE // Issue 3, 2015 // 31
GIVING BACK
10 USER SYSTEM SHOWN
DV10 DRY VACUUM
SC10r OIL FREE COMPRESSOR
The dental team after a wet and rainy day doing dental clinic at park in Suva, Fiji.
communication, both within the team and onshore with the locals,
Dr. Hogge explains, “Local people knew when the USNS Mercy
team would be in the village and would help as translators. At one
point to make it easier we took printed pictures of procedures or
oral cancer victims with us, showing what we wanted the patient to
learn or do, or to help educate the locals on the consequences of
tobacco use or chewing betel nut.”
After ten weeks afloat, the Hogges packed up and headed home—
but they are already thinking about another tour. “This is a great
thing to do and I’ve already been asked if I would go again. The
answer to that is a definite, ‘Yes!’ I met some wonderful doctors and
nurses and felt like I helped make a difference.” As for encouraging
other dental professionals, he says, “Do something. It doesn’t have
to be big. I wish I would have started earlier in my career and had
my children involved. Give a little bit of your time and start now.”
WANT TO HELP?
Contact the University of California at San
Diego Pre-Dental Society to learn more about
their humanitarian missions. Since 2006, UCSD
PDS has partnered with the U.S. Navy in their
humanitarian missions abroad. Students and
professionals have an opportunity to provide care
on floating Navy hospital ships-USNS Mercy
and USNS Comfort, as well as the USS Peleliu,
USS Byrd, and USS Cleveland Greyhull ships.
As a large non-governmental organization (NGO)
they partner with the US Navy as an integral
component of their team.
They continuously seek volunteers from the
dental, medical, pharmaceutical, and engineering
fields, as well as educators and people in the
various other health care professions.
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32 // Burkhart dental supply
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