DARU, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Church leaders were in the right place at the right time to respond to the immediate crisis of a devastating cholera outbreak recently in Papua New Guinea, which claimed the lives of more than 300 people, including 76 Latter-day Saints in four branches of the Church.

Photo by Sue Owen

Sick child arriving by boat to be treated by doctors for cholera.

Elder Dirk Smibert, an Area Seventy, and a small group of Papuan Church leaders arrived in Daru by dingy in the late afternoon of Nov. 11. "We arrived in Daru from having been up to Sogere where we had just formed a new district, as well as having visited the Saints in Isumo, when we received word of the tragedy," said Elder Smibert. "We had planned to merely transit in Daru before flying out the following day, and so we arranged to meet with the priesthood leaders there for a training meeting the next morning. That next morning one of the branch presidents informed me that 11 of the members of his branch had just died from cholera."

Photo by Sue Owen

Dr Anthony Mahler checks the health of children.

Elder Smibert immediately made phone calls to the area presidency, who quickly called an emergency response meeting with the Welfare Department. Working quickly with local doctors and politicians, critical plans were put into action and the Church was able to make available a local chapel to serve as a temporary extension to the local hospital, which rapidly grew well beyond capacity as the outbreak spread.

"The local people were very helpful in bringing the sick to us in their canoes," said Dr. Anthony Mahler, a volunteer physician from Australia who went to Papua New Guinea as part of the response team. "In our first 24 hours at the village of Sogere, we treated over 200 cases of cholera, including 30 severe cases."

Photo by Sue Owen

Doctors Anthony Mahler, in white cap, and David Williams, in blue shirt, arrive at a village affected by cholera.

As news reached Australia of the outbreak, Australia's border in the Torres Strait was sealed after more than 100 Papua New Guinea people had died from the disease. At the time, it was reported that the outbreak had already infected at least 5,000 people.

The Church joined with several other nongovernmental organizations in response to the outbreak, with the Church sending 25 tons of emergency food and medical supplies to the region. The supplies included eight tons of rice, four tons of fish, four tons of flour, 1,000 bars of antibacterial soap and four tons of cooking oil. The LDS Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake City also shipped 2,500 much-needed water filter bottles to Port Moresby.

The Church and its members worked with AusAID, Médecins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders, the World Health Organization and other groups to help care for the sick as well as to educate communities on how to prevent the spread of the disease.

A special envoy organized and funded through the Church involved Dr. Mahler and Dr. David Williams, alongside Cairns-based Church organizer Shane Palmer, heading to the island of Daru and the nearby Fly River Delta to provide immediate care for patients suffering from the disease.

Dr. Williams, from Capalaba Ward, said, "One of the most challenging moments was in the small village of Sisiama when I had to kneel in the mud for over an hour holding an IV cannula in an infant's vein as he kicked and squirmed. At the same time we were giving his mother IV fluids because her breast milk had dried up. While this was going on she was vainly trying to breast feed him to give him some comfort. Some people had not had anything to eat or drink, they were so fearful of contracting cholera."

In one remote village near the Bamu River, doctors and medical staff treated 185 patients in one night, working under torchlight, or flashlight, in a makeshift hospital. In some cases, they helped revive and stabilize patients who were minutes from dying from severe dehydration.

"There was one guy who [had a seizure] when he arrived, and he was probably minutes from death," Dr. Mahler said. "Many of the others would not have survived 24 hours. While there were supplies in Daru, there was a shortage of people qualified to administer them. The people were very grateful to have two doctors arrive."

By Nov. 20, a World Health Organization representative in Daru, Geoffrey Clark, reported the cholera outbreak on the island to be under control, with efforts then focused on reducing its spread on Papua New Guinea's southern coast.

Elder Smibert, reflecting on the tragedy at the time, described his thoughts and feelings upon first learning of the outbreak and the death of many fellow Saints. "I was in a training meeting with the assembled priesthood leaders when the shocking news came," he said. "Immediately, Church history came to mind. It was in 1856 when in general conference Brigham Young, upon hearing of the plight of the Willie Handcart Company who had lost, through death, many of their party, and who were suffering frost-bite and starvation, closed the conference and sent the priesthood [brethren] to the rescue."

With that story in mind, Elder Smibert gave the brethren an update on the cholera crisis and related this story of Brigham Young to them. "I then explained that we were going to close the meeting and go to the rescue."

Consecrated oil was distributed to the brethren who went two-by-two into the villages to administer to members of the district who were afflicted with cholera and to provide blessings of comfort to those who had lost loved ones. "That morning 110 blessings were given," Elder Smibert said.

Faith and love grew in the hearts of the Saints and miracles occurred as the locals and Church leaders and other organizations worked hand-in-hand to curb the crisis of the outbreak. While the original point of the outbreak was Daru, the situation was soon stabilized there, but the outbreak was soon on the move emerging in villages on the mainland. By December, it was reported that more than 800 people had been struck down with the disease and more than 300 people had lost their lives.

Dr. Mahler, now back in Australia, said, "Treating the people of the Bamu River was the most professionally rewarding experience of my life. It was very demanding to work in the difficult conditions presented to us. But there was no greater satisfaction than seeing severely dehydrated infants respond quickly to treatment."

The Church recorded a tragic 76 deaths among its members in Papua New Guinea. "We express our deep love and concern for those who have been affected by this epidemic," said Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Church's Pacific Area Presidency. "We offer our sincere condolences to those who have lost family or friends."