Volunteer Wendy Falloon gets on board Mercy Ships to help the poor

MANY Tasmanians prefer a holiday in Bali, Thailand or Europe, but Wendy Falloon spends her annual leave volunteering in some of the world’s most disadvantaged countries.

MANY Tasmanians may prefer to book a holiday to Bali, Thailand or Europe, but Hobart anaesthetist Wendy Falloon spends her annual leave volunteering in some of the world’s most disadvantaged countries.

Dr Falloon, 51, volunteers her time and expertise once a year for Mercy Ships, which provides medical care for developing countries in Africa, starting with her first trip in 2014 to Madagascar.

Wendy Falloon volunteers at least once a year on the Mercy Ships. Picture: KIM EISZELE

The ship is essentially a floating hospital – with its own CT scanners, X-ray department and blood supply topped up by the crew.

Medical staff are handed a run down of operations for each day.

“On my first day, there were eight different nationalities of people in the operating theatre,” Dr Falloon said.

“Operations can vary from something simple like a hernia repair – I say simple but they’re often quite a lot bigger than anything you see here, up to the size of a football – or lipomas, which are growths of fatty tissue under the skin,” she said.

It was on that first trip in 2014 that 13-year-old Madagascan Isabelle, who had a tumour the size of a cricket ball removed from her cheek, stole Dr Falloon’s heart.

Isabelle before her operation to remove a tumour.

Isabelle three weeks after the operation.

“She was the sweetest little girl,” she said.

“Her teeth were sticking out of the tumour and when they removed it, there was no bone between the eye, the roof of the mouth and the side of her face.

“She probably touched me the most – she didn’t complain ever. You get a huge amount of personal reward because these people are really in need – it’s not like they have an alternative.

“Here, you might have to wait a while to get something done at the Royal, but it will get done.”

Mercy Ships Australia national office manager Melissa Mason said there were two other Tasmanians who had volunteered during their last field service in Madagascar and there were two others, plus Dr Falloon, expected to join them during a new field service in Benin in West Africa later this year.