“There is always a solution and an appropriate way to achieve good rehab in difficult situations.”
When UK-Med responds to crises around the world, we call upon specialist healthcare professionals to deliver extraordinary care, often in extremely challenging circumstances. Their work is tailored to meet the needs on the ground, whether responding to conflict, disaster, or disease outbreaks. Mercy, a burns rehabilitation specialist, is one of those professionals.
With a seemingly permanent smile and an indefatigable attitude, Mercy is a force of nature when it comes to rehabilitation. She has deployed multiple times with UK-Med to support patients with acute burns rehabilitation needs. In 2025, she travelled with teams to Lebanon, North Macedonia, and Bangladesh, where UK-Med staff deployed as a WHO-verified Rehabilitation Specialist Care Team (SCT) within the UK Emergency Medical Team (UK EMT).
“I view humanitarian work as one of the highest forms of service to humanity, and I consider it a privilege to contribute in this way.”
Mercy had not initially planned to specialise in burns rehabilitation. During her professional training, she undertook a rotation placement at a burns unit in her hospital in Accra, Ghana— an experience that got off to an unexpected start.
“I passed out on my first day there! But after working there for a few weeks, I saw first-hand how essential rehabilitation is to the patients’ recovery and quality of life as burn survivors…What started as a placement became a passion, so let’s say that I didn’t choose burns (rehabilitation) it chose me!”
Burns rehabilitation requires far more than clinical expertise alone. Patients often face complex physical, psychological, social, and emotional challenges, and rehabilitation specialists must address each of these elements as part of recovery.
Mercy recalls one particular patient from her time in Lebanon – a young man – whose experience reflected many of the complex challenges UK-Med teams regularly encounter.
“While he had strong family support, he was physically weak and psychologically overwhelmed by his condition. His recovery required more than routine exercises, so I focused on building a strong rapport and really understanding what mattered most to him.
I developed a rehab plan tailored to his interests and tolerance, breaking his recovery into small, achievable daily and weekly milestones. Simple goals, such as sitting up in bed to speak with his wife on the phone, became powerful motivators. Through consistent encouragement, skilled progression of exercises, careful management of his limitations, and addressing his fears with patience and tact, his engagement gradually improved.
By the end of my deployment, he had progressed from being largely dependent and withdrawn to walking (with minimal assistance) and performing some activities of daily living on his own. This experience stands out to me because it required not only clinical expertise, but persistence, adaptability and psychological insight to guide him through significant physical and emotional barriers.
Seeing him regain confidence and independence and witnessing the joy it brought to him and his family, remains one of the most rewarding moments of my professional journey.”
Mercy typifies the dedication, skill and patience that is required to be a part of a verified Rehabilitation Specialist Care Team capable of deploying quickly anywhere in the world, to support patients and national staff when needed. The fact she does it all with a smile on her face says a lot about who she is.
“I see people’s reaction when they hear about burn rehabilitation for the first time, it looks impossible, but for me it’s the simple things that make a very big difference, and I’m always motivated and always happy to know that I have helped people to overcome their fear.”
UK-Med is verified by the World Health Organization as an EMT and is the delivery partner of the UK EMT, the UK Government’s health response to disasters overseas funded by the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office
Wondering what a Rehabilitation Specialist Care Team includes in practice?
