Local nurse practitioner Lt. Patrick Smith recently had the experience of a lifetime when he boarded the USNS Mercy to participate in the humanitarian program, Pacific Partnership 2008 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

The program provides medical care and treatment to people in the Western Pacific and is comprised of doctors, nurses, corpsmen, medics, technicians and engineers from all branches of the U.S. military, armed forces personnel from several countries and non-governmental organizations.

Smith, a graduate of Texas High School and Texarkana College, has been a...

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