Hospital Ship

In a normal hospital, when a doctor needs something in a hurry, that's no problem. If the item is not on the premises, it can probably be obtained soon. But on this floating, 1,000-bed Navy hospital, which will join the Hurricane Katrina relief effort today, nothing is easy. The ship has 12 operating rooms and all medical specialties. It goes where easy supply lines have been disrupted, to hostile locales. So it must also be a hotel, cafeteria, store, logistics center, warehouse, and heliport.

The photographs made the difference for nurse Megan Petock. They were stark and dramatic. They showed hospital patients from Africa who had long been without medical treatment; they were shown before surgery, and after. Petock, of Holland, pored over the Internet photos, then hopped a train to New York to see the exhibit in person. Before leaving the gallery, she made a personal commitment to volunteer herself aboard the floating hospital Mercy Ships. That day is less than three weeks away.

For an agonizing two days, the more than 660 people staffing this hospital ship, with 1,000 beds and 12 operating rooms, worried that they had come a long way and trained hard for nothing. When the ship docked at Pascagoula, Miss., only a handful of people showed up needing treatment. But now those of all ages - with cuts, bug bites, and illnesses from their efforts to clean up after Hurricane Katrina - line up at the ship and at clinics that volunteers from the ship have set up ashore.

The photographs made the difference for nurse Megan Petock. They were stark and dramatic. They showed hospital patients from Africa who had long been without medical treatment; they were shown before surgery, and after. Petock, of Holland, pored over the Internet photos, then hopped a train to New York to see the exhibit in person. Before leaving the gallery, she made a personal commitment to volunteer herself aboard the floating hospital Mercy Ships. That day is less than three weeks away.

Just a mile off the coast of this vacation paradise, a ship of anguish bobs gently in the sea. Worried mothers pray softly, wide-eyed children smile or cry, and uncertain young men mask their fear by talking tough. Welcome aboard the USNS Comfort, home to Haitian refugees plucked from the high seas, where stories abound of trampled rights, numbing hunger and dreams deferred. Prophete and Yolette Guerrier, a young couple, made it here after three days at sea with no food, five children and another on the way. "We were scared about taking the trip by boat, but we were resigned to coming," Prophete said.

John A. Malone, 80, a former Philadelphia Bulletin reporter and public relations officer for the Delaware River Port Authority, died Friday at Chestnut Hill Hospital. A lifelong Philadelphian, Mr. Malone first worked as a secretary to builder John McShain - who oversaw construction of Philadelphia International Airport, Washington National Airport, the Pentagon, the Jefferson Memorial, and numerous other public edifices around the country. But relatives said Mr. Malone always loved writing, especially about sports.

PORT-AU-PRINCE A PLAN TO PAY OFF HAITI'S MILITARY? U.S. officials are encouraging Haiti's elite to pressure the ruling military to step down, and indicated yesterday that they would not stand in the way if bribes were offered. Administration officials denied a report that a new strategy was to prompt the leaders into exile through promises of a comfortable life in exile. "There's no plan to pay them off," said White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers. "We're discussing a number of options.

Donald H. Shaner, 72, a long-time Philadelphia resident, died Friday at home in Center City. Born in Chestnut Hill, Mr. Shaner spent his early years in Mount Airy and graduated from Germantown High School. He attended Pennsylvania State College, now Pennsylvania State University, and enlisted in the Navy. He was placed on active duty shortly before he was to graduate. During World War II, Mr. Shaner was a deck officer on the U.S.S. Dewel, a hospital ship that transported injured American troops from Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Philippines to mainland United States.

Cameron plans immigration cuts LONDON - Britain must cut immigration dramatically to ease social strain, Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday, telling supporters that the influx of newcomers was putting serious pressure on some communities. Cameron said large-scale immigration had caused "discomfort and disjointedness" in parts of the country. The comments were strongly criticized by a member of Cameron's own coalition government, who said they could inflame extremism.

BEIJING - China may make its neighbors nervous with its robust military buildup, but it is also increasingly using the army as part of its charm offensive abroad. The People's Liberation Army, in a cultural shift for an institution known for strident nationalism and unbending loyalty to the Communist Party, is expanding overseas aid missions and military exchanges in a major way. It sent 50 medics to flood-hit Pakistan recently and dispatched a hospital ship in September on a 105-day trip to poor nations in the Caribbean - right in America's backyard.

BEIJING - China may make its neighbors nervous with its robust military buildup, but it is also increasingly using the army as part of its charm offensive abroad. The People's Liberation Army, in a cultural shift for an institution known for strident nationalism and unbending loyalty to the Communist Party, is expanding overseas aid missions and military exchanges in a major way. It sent 50 medics to flood-hit Pakistan recently and dispatched a hospital ship in September on a 105-day trip to poor nations in the Caribbean - right in America's backyard.

Cameron plans immigration cuts LONDON - Britain must cut immigration dramatically to ease social strain, Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday, telling supporters that the influx of newcomers was putting serious pressure on some communities. Cameron said large-scale immigration had caused "discomfort and disjointedness" in parts of the country. The comments were strongly criticized by a member of Cameron's own coalition government, who said they could inflame extremism.

Dr. Manuel A. Bergnes, 93, of West Norriton, a retired pathologist and decorated World War II combat surgeon, died Saturday at the Meadows at Shannondell in Audubon. Dr. Bergnes was a pathologist at Phoenixville Hospital from 1949 to 1982. He was also chief pathologist at Sacred Heart Hospital in Norristown from 1950 to 1983 and remained on the hospital staff until retiring in 1992. He then performed autopsies for the Montgomery County Coroner's Office until 2000. For 22 years, Dr. Bergnes was assistant professor at the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

The photographs made the difference for nurse Megan Petock. They were stark and dramatic. They showed hospital patients from Africa who had long been without medical treatment; they were shown before surgery, and after. Petock, of Holland, pored over the Internet photos, then hopped a train to New York to see the exhibit in person. Before leaving the gallery, she made a personal commitment to volunteer herself aboard the floating hospital Mercy Ships. That day is less than three weeks away.

The photographs made the difference for nurse Megan Petock. They were stark and dramatic. They showed hospital patients from Africa who had long been without medical treatment; they were shown before surgery, and after. Petock, of Holland, pored over the Internet photos, then hopped a train to New York to see the exhibit in person. Before leaving the gallery, she made a personal commitment to volunteer herself aboard the floating hospital Mercy Ships. That day is less than three weeks away.

For an agonizing two days, the more than 660 people staffing this hospital ship, with 1,000 beds and 12 operating rooms, worried that they had come a long way and trained hard for nothing. When the ship docked at Pascagoula, Miss., only a handful of people showed up needing treatment. But now those of all ages - with cuts, bug bites, and illnesses from their efforts to clean up after Hurricane Katrina - line up at the ship and at clinics that volunteers from the ship have set up ashore.

When Lt. Mark Anderson steamed into his hometown of Pascagoula, Miss., Friday aboard this massive Navy hospital ship, he was "going nuts with worry" about his parents. He had received a brief e-mail saying his parents had fled to Birmingham, Ala., and were all right. Still, he knew his father would go home at the earliest moment. And he knew that, like so many others in this storm-ravaged region, his parents were not as strong and agile as they once were. They are both 62, and they are both deaf.

Most of this hospital ship's crew bunked down Thursday night thinking they were headed for New Orleans. They didn't know that Trent Lott had other thoughts. As the ship approached the mouth of the Mississippi River, it was turned around. Yesterday afternoon, the crew docked at Pascagoula, in the Republican senator's home state of Mississippi, waiting to receive victims of Hurricane Katrina. The former Senate majority leader had pressed leaders of the relief effort late Thursday night to have the ship go to his state, saying three naval vessels were already in New Orleans and able to meet its medical needs now that so many people had been evacuated.

In a normal hospital, when a doctor needs something in a hurry, that's no problem. If the item is not on the premises, it can probably be obtained soon. But on this floating, 1,000-bed Navy hospital, which will join the Hurricane Katrina relief effort today, nothing is easy. The ship has 12 operating rooms and all medical specialties. It goes where easy supply lines have been disrupted, to hostile locales. So it must also be a hotel, cafeteria, store, logistics center, warehouse, and heliport.

The Comfort, a 1,000-bed Navy hospital ship, steamed across the Gulf of Mexico yesterday while its crew of doctors, nurses and technicians practiced drills and unpacked boxes, getting ready to receive victims of Hurricane Katrina. It will arrive off Louisiana and Mississippi today and could receive patients by helicopter as it nears its journey's end. People with the worst injuries have been evacuated or treated aboard Navy warships that arrived while the big hospital ship, based in Baltimore, rounded up its crew from Navy medical centers nationwide and steamed 1,600 miles to the gulf.