The U.S. Military Sealift Command issued the following news release and photo concerning the hospital ship USNS Comfort, which is crewed by members of the SIU Government Services Division. The release also is available on MSC’s web site HERE.USNS Comfort departs Norfolk on humanitarian mission
Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort, operated by civil service mariners, departed Naval Station Norfolk June 15 for a four-month humanitarian assistance mission to Latin America and the Caribbean.
This is Comfort’s first deployment since returning from the U.S. Gulf Coast in October 2005 where the ship spent more than a month providing medical assistance in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“America is the most generous nation in the world, and this mission is our way of showing that,” said Capt. Ed Nanartowich, the ship’s civil service master. “This is a great opportunity for the Navy and our mariners to show the compassionate side of our workforce.”
Comfort will visit Belize, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
At each stop, U.S. military doctors and nurses from the ship’s medical treatment facility will work with a variety of embarked governmental and non-governmental agencies as well as medical professionals from host nations to treat about 1,000 patients per day, providing medical care including immunizations, general and specialty surgeries, dental care and vision services.
An embarked Naval construction force of Seabees will join Comfort’s CIVMARs to provide engineering support at each location including medical facility repairs and minor construction projects.
Comfort’s mission, part of U.S. Southern Command’s Partnership for the Americas, is modeled in part on the humanitarian assistance deployment that Comfort’s sister ship, USNS Mercy, conducted last year to Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. On that mission, Mercy’s medical team treated more than 60,000 patients.
The focus of Comfort’s deployment is to provide humanitarian assistance. The work of MSC’s 68 CIVMARs will be pivotal to the success of the mission.
“The number one role of CIVMARs on this mission is the navigation and operation of the ship – making sure that we get from point A to point B safely and running the engineering plant that supplies the hospital with water and electricity,” said Nanartowich.
Where Comfort cannot pull into port due to the ship’s deep draft, the CIVMARs will also operate two 33-foot utility boats to transport patients and mission personnel between ship and shore. Painted white with red crosses and named Hospitality 1 and Hospitality 2, these boats will be able to transfer as many as five times the number of patients as Comfort’s two embarked helicopters.
“I have been with MSC for 10 years, and of the many missions that I have been on, this is going to be one of the most challenging ones since it is a humanitarian mission,” said Mario Geonzon, able seaman aboard Comfort who has served on oilers, tugs and cable-laying ships. “This is going to be a great run.”
“It is a privilege and an honor for Military Sealift Command to be part of such an important deployment,” said Nanartowich. “The ship’s crew and I are looking forward to being part of a productive and highly rewarding mission.”
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