Comfort begins humanitarian deployment
US Southern Command Press Release - The hospital ship USNS Comfort has begun an unprecedented four-month humanitarian assistance deployment to Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The ship is headed to the region after departing Norfolk, Va. on Friday. The ship is expected to visit 12 nations where its embarked 500 medical professionals will provide treatment to an estimated 85,000 patients from communities with limited health care access. The embarked medical staff is made up of military health care professionals, a staff from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and volunteers from U.S. non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Project Hope and Operation Smile. Their specialties include general surgery, orthopedics, plastics, pediatric surgery, oral surgery, ENT and OBGYN. In addition to basic care, the crew expects to perform approximately 1,500 surgeries during the deployment. The medical team is trained and equipped to provide health care services, ranging from basic tooth extractions and wellness education to surgical repair of cleft lips and tumor removals. Their primary focus is to support medical humanitarian assistance efforts ashore; a secondary mission is outpatient shipboard health service support. (more)
“This deployment provides an opportunity for us to work together with countries in the region to make a lasting contribution across our hemisphere,” said Adm. Jim Stavridis, commander, USSOUTHCOM. “Comfort’s mission will reach far beyond the patients we will see each day. We will undoubtedly touch the lives of many families whose hardships will be lessened while strengthening our partnerships with the countries we visit.”
During a speech on Western Hemisphere policy on March 5, President Bush announced that he was ordering USNS Comfort to deploy to the region. He said the humanitarian assistance mission was part of his “Advancing the Cause of Social Justice in the Western Hemisphere” initiative that aims to improve health care, education and housing in the region.
Scheduled to remain in the region through September, Comfort will visit Belize, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago.
Also supporting Comfort’s medical mission will be a SEABEE detachment from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40 from Port Hueneme, Calif., which will perform civic action repair and minor construction projects in visited countries.
USNS Comfort is one of two U.S. Navy hospital ships that are able to respond rapidly to a range of situations on short notice. It has 12 operating rooms and can hold 1,000 patients.
This deployment is similar to last year’s USNS Mercy deployment to Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific (see more) that delivered substantial medical and dental support to a significant number of people in remote locations.
