A Trip To The Gas Station

Most individuals would not consider a trip to the gas station exciting. In reality, normally, it isn’t that exciting. You drive up to the pump, get out of your car, pump the gas for a few minutes, pay the attendant at the counter, and drive away with a full tank of gas. That is the extent of it; nothing highly entertaining or really exciting about the process. In some states, you aren’t even privileged with the excitement of pumping your own gas; you just sit in your car during the procedure. Sometimes there is a little excitement when you forget to put the cap back on the gas tank and some kind individual jumps up and down waving at you like a freak, trying to get your attention to remind you that you forgot your gas cap. Or, the random time you are on a family trip and in a state where they pump gas for you but your dad doesn’t realize that and you end up watching your dad argue with the attendant that he is fully capable of pumping his own gas and the situation gets awkward so your family ends up leaving without any gas at all. That is entertaining, but not totally exciting. On the contrary, in Africa, everything is an adventure and exciting, even a trip to the gas station!

The Africa Mercy needed to get gas the other day. We filled up three months ago, but it was time to get gas again. So, how to you put gas in a ship that is the length of a football field? Last year in Liberia, a fuel tanker would dock next to us and we would load fuel for a number of hours. This year, we have to travel to the gas station. That means we set sail! Ahoy, mate! My first sail with the Africa Mercy! You are all aware of my fear of water and that I get seasick in hammocks, so how did I handle my first sail? I am proud to announce that I survived it and it went extremely well, partially because the gas station is within view of where we are currently docked and the sail to the gas station only took ten minutes. Our deck and engine room crew prepare for hours before we sail. It is sort of a pity because they have to do the same amount of preparatory work for a ten minute sail as they have to for our ten day sails. We pull up the gangway and no one is allowed to leave or board the ship for the duration of the fueling time. Having to move the ship to fuel also means we have to get creative with admitting and discharging of patients from the hospital. We do not want to lose any surgical time so sometimes we have to admit patients early because we may not be back to dock by the time they are supposed to be admitted. We do not operate when we are sailing, but the moment our fuel tank is full, we sail, and operations start as soon as we are “parked” at our normal dock. If you are a nurse in a hospital, imagine having the following conversation with one of your patients… “Umm, Mr. Smith, can you come to the hospital a day or two before your surgery because the hospital has to get gas. Or Miss White, you cannot go home right now because while you were sleeping the hospital moved and you aren’t allowed out the front door.” Oh, I love the uniqueness of working on a hospital ship.

Any guesses on how big the Africa Mercy gas tank is? I will help you out. We load about 700 tons of fuel when we visit the gas station. At the current cost of fuel that means we spend about $500,000 USD to fill our gas tank! You thought your gas bill was expensive. Anyone want to guess how long it takes to load 700 tons of fuel? Well, for those of you who struggle with patience while waiting for your 12 gallon gas tank to fill, don’t come here, it takes us about 12 hours to fill our gas tanks! Actually, it isn’t too bad because we only have to fill up every 3 months! Our trip to the gas station was successful, our fuel tank is full again and life goes on aboard the ship. If you are finding your daily routine boring and you are ready for a challenge and a change, come to Africa where even a trip to the gas station is an adventure!