Correspondence...

So - as you guys have heard from my last post - I have e-mailed the current pharmacist aboard the Africa Mercy...and she replied! It's very exciting for me to have someone to talk to and ask questions. And - it's great to have someone's input, who has been there, and is doing that!

From what I have gathered from her e-mail, she is from the UK and is a long term volunteer on the Africa Mercy. She told me that we work from 8:30 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. (Which means weekends are free for exploring?) And, we share an on-call pager, which we have for a week at a time...much different from the one on-call shift a month here at Foothills!

It seems like working as a pharmacist on the Africa Mercy is a mix of both retail and hospital pharmacy. We still stock and supply all the medications for the wards and the patients on board...but, we also do crew clinics where we counsel on OTCs (over-the-counter medications) and fill other prescriptions as well (lots of antimalarials, from what I gather). Right now, I am appreciating my time in both the retail sector of pharmacy, as well as the hospital experience I have had since the beginning of this year. I hope that both skill sets serve me well while aboard - but, mostly others! We'll see how it goes!