GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM The USNS Mercy, one of two U.S. Navy hospital ships, is on a five-month humanitarian and goodwill mission in Southeast Asia. The ship is shown here framed between the military's floating radar platform, left, and the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor.

Isle doctor recalls hazards of latest medical mission to southern Philippines

Traveling and screening patients in the southern Philippines with armed guards didn't faze veteran mission medic Carl Lum, who called it "an adventure."

Lum is one of 31 Aloha Medical Mission volunteers participating in a five-month humanitarian and goodwill mission to Southeast Asia aboard the Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy.

The eye, ear, nose and throat specialist has volunteered and led many medical missions to remote areas, but none like the one being undertaken by the Mercy, he said, with armed convoys, speedboats, small planes and helicopters.

"The area we were working in was potentially dangerous, so we were closely associated with the military people protecting us," Lum said.

Working in the ship's well-equipped modern operating rooms also was different, he said, since most Aloha Medical Missions go to isolated areas with primitive conditions.

Dr. Ramon Sy, Aloha Medical Mission president, who joined the ship at Banda Aceh, Indonesia, said the Mercy mission was a massive operation and "very difficult for the Navy."

Given the problems of security and integration, coordinating hundreds of civilian volunteers from different countries and organizations, he said, "The Navy was super."

Capt. Bob Kiser, Pacific Fleet surgeon who provides medical oversight for the mission, said one of his concerns is "to make sure people are safe."

He said the mission's success in the Philippines was due largely to the Aloha Medical Mission volunteers' medical and cultural expertise and knowledge of the area.

"The Aloha Medical guys are absolutely phenomenal," Kiser said.

Lum boarded the hospital ship on May 22 and returned home June 20 after the first phase to Zamboanga, Jolo Island and Tawi Tawi in the southern Philippines. Residents are mostly Muslim, and the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group is based in the area, so security was very tight, he said.

"When on land, we wore flak jackets and helmets and traveled by armed convoy," he said.

About 14 people, mostly Philippine military and civilians, were killed by the terrorists the week before the Mercy arrived at Tawi Tawi, he said: "The reason for the Mercy going down there is to win the hearts and minds of the people so they don't support terrorists."

Lum said he had been on a medical mission many years ago to Zamboanga, but had not been to Jolo or Tawi Tawi.

COURTESY PHOTO Dr. Carl Lum of the Aloha Medical Mission boards the hospital ship Mercy aboard an armed speed boat in Zamboanga, Philippines.

The ship always anchored a few miles off shore for security reasons, and an armed speed boat circled the ship 24 hours a day to keep unauthorized boats from approaching, he said. Each patient and a family member were taken by helicopter or small boat to the ship for surgery, then returned to shore and followed up by local doctors.

"An amazing 1,500 surgical patients were screened" at Zamboanga, Lum said, but it was possible to take only about 125, "so there were many very disappointed people. It only points to the tremendous need for people to get medical care."

The most common surgeries were large thyroid cancers and goiters, hernias, cataracts, cleft lips, jaw and breast cancers, Lum said. Many patients had huge thyroid goiters caused by iodine deficiency and a diet based on the starchy cassava root.

He said he operated from 7 a.m. into the night, nearly every day for one month on the ship.

Medical and dental teams went ashore daily to examine, treat and immunize patients at the local hospital or clinic, Lum said.

Kiser said teams from the Navy, Air Force, Army and nations including India and Canada were providing medical services on the ship, "a symbol of our interest in providing humanitarian assistance, being good neighbors and providing folks a vision of a future they might not otherwise have."

"Carl Lum, God bless him, does all manner of things without a lot of fanfare or hoopla," Kiser said. "He just goes about making lives better. He actually is a role model for me."

"Dr. Lum is one of the heroes of the (Mercy) mission," Sy said. "He did an enormous amount of surgery in one month."

Sy said he went to Banda Aceh because he wanted to see how recovery was progressing from the devastating December 2004 tsunami and to establish a connection for a future Aloha Medical Mission. A team of Aloha doctors and nurses began a series of missions there in January 2005.

The Navy helped him deliver four dental chairs and other equipment and medicine to the Harapan Bunda Hospital.

Sy said a lot of rebuilding is under way with help from different countries. Residents haven't recovered emotionally, but "still go on with their lives."

The last phase of the Mercy's mission will include stops at Kupang, Indonesia, and Dili, East Timor. The ship is expected to return to Hawaii in September.