Combined Medical Team Cares for Indonesians Aboard Mercy
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS080726-05
Release Date: 7/26/2008 8:14:00 AM
By Lt. Arwen Chisholm, Pacific Partnership Public Affairs
DILI, Timor-Leste (NNS) -- Indonesian patients boarded USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) "Band-Aid boats" July 22 for the naval hospital ship where they would be treated by members of a combined Pacific Partnership medical team.
"We can do something to help these people in need," said Lt. Col. Arie Zakaria, an orthopedic surgeon in the Indonesian Navy. "Bottom line, our people and their people are the same. These are our brothers."
Zakaria conducted more than 10 surgeries in cooperation with his American counterparts on board the Mercy.
"We did a dozen surgeries together," said U.S. Navy Cmdr. William Todd, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. "We did small surgeries to big femur surgeries right on the ship."
According to Todd, having Zakaria on board the Mercy was a huge asset.
"He brought a wealth of knowledge about Timor and local customs. He was more than a translator, he understood them as both a human being and a surgeon," said Todd.
According to Florintina Da Costa, a surgical patient whose leg was straightened during a femoral ostomey, the treatment she received on the Mercy is different from what she receives in Dili.
Four years ago Da Costa was in a car accident in which her femur was broken. She had two surgeries; however, her leg never fully healed. She had been unable to walk and exert pressure on her leg.
"I could move by myself, but very slowly. I would touch the ground sometimes, but it hurt, really hurt," she said.
In order to straighten Da Costa's leg, plates and screws were inserted into her femur, reducing the bow in the leg and allowing her to put pressure on her leg.
"This was a new system and Dr. Zakaria adapted quickly," said Todd. "The basic principles of orthopedics were the same."
Since her surgery, Da Costa has become independent, thanks to the use of her crutches, and is now ambulatory for the first time in four years.
"I am very happy I can walk now. I feel good. I am a little scared of walking and falling. I am still not very confident."
According to Da Costa, Zakaria was very nice and he spoke to her in Indonesian, helping to relieve her fears.
The operating room staff said they were sad to see Zakaria leave the mission.
"I can translate words, but I can't translate the emotion and concern," said Todd. "Dr. Zakaria's ability to relate to patients and family was priceless."
Pacific Partnership will continue on its humanitarian civic assistance mission to Papua New Guinea and the Federated States of Micronesia following Timor-Leste.
For more news from Pacific Partnership 2008, visit www.navy.mil/local/PP08/.
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