FTV 1/29/2012 Guayaquil Hosptal

Before we left for the Sea Term Cruise, MMA cadets loaded on stacks of boxes of clothing and medical supplies on to the T.S. Kennedy. Among this cargo were 100 boxes of supplies donated by MMA Cadets and other Members of the Mass Maritime Community. This drive was arranged under group collaboration between the First Company Office Doug Page, the ship doctor Jeff Sukor, and over 100 Cadets who helped collect and pack the supplies.

Today they reached their destination, a children's hospital here in Guayaquil, Ecuador. This morning at 8:30 AM the boxes were reloaded along with two buses of about 40 volunteer cadets, who brought their work tools and work uniform to the Ycaza Bustamanate Children's Hospital, where they will use their ships maintenance training to undertake several work projects requested by the hospital.

The cadets were accompanied by Commander Page, Dr. Sukor, Nurse Sharon Sylvia, and Roger Souza, our ships barber, gave kids haircuts. Also on the trip was Captain Bill Tracy who played the fiddle and sang songs with the children, and Father Jim Houston. One cadet said it was a very rewarding experience to spend a day doing work for such needy and loving families they encountered at the hospital.

Congratulations to those Cadets who volunteered their liberty time to serve in this valuable humanitarian effort. One of the greatest concerns of hospitals and medical facilities face today is viral diseases, which can be spread through contact with a person infected with the disease. Some diseases, such as influenza, measles, and smallpox, spread rapidly and are of great concern to public health organizations.

Try this activity that creates a model of how viruses spread among a population.