Vancouver family moving to Africa to provide free healthcare
Posted May 29, 2014 8:33 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, and on Saturday, Meagan Coman, her husband and their two kids will start on a journey that will turn into two years aboard the Africa Mercy.
The Comans will spend the first two months of the trip in Texas while Meagan gets the training she needs, and then then family will make their way to Benin, where they will stay for the rest of the adventure.
Coman says she’s wanted to do this for 15 years, and when her husband said he wanted to go, she knew she needed to pack the family and make it happen.
Coman says it’s more than just providing much needed healthcare to the people of that country, it is a chance for her children to learn about the world.
“I kind of hope that they follow in our footsteps with wanting to travel and see other parts of the world and learn compassion and be compassionate for other people, so it’s a great opportunity for all of us.”
Coman is a registered nurse with Vancouver Coast Health and her husband, a marine engineer, will volunteer aboard the ship while it is docked in Cotonou.
The converted Danish rail ferry has five operating theatres and 82 patient beds with an annual capacity of approximately 7,000 surgical procedures.
Coman, along with 450 other volunteers, will provide free healthcare to one of the poorest areas in the world.
