The U.S. Military Sealift Command hospital ship The U.S. Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort, crewed by members of the SIU Government Services Division, departed Naval Station Norfolk (Va.) June 15 for a four-month humanitarian assistance mission to Latin America and the Caribbean.According to the agency, this is the 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. The Comfort is scheduled to 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 is slated to join the Comfort’s CIVMARs to provide engineering support at each location including medical facility repairs and minor construction projects.
The Comfort’s mission, part of U.S. Southern Command’s Partnership for the Americas, is modeled in part on the humanitarian assistance deployment that the vessel’s sister ship, the Seafarers-crewed USNS Mercy, conducted last year to Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. On that mission, the Mercy’s medical team treated more than 60,000 patients.
In announcing the Comfort’s current deployment, MSC said that the work of CIVMARs aboard the vessel “will be pivotal to the mission.”
Where the Comfort cannot pull into port due to the ship’s deep draft, CIVMARs will 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 can transfer as many as five times the number of patients as the 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,” said AB Mario Geonzon. “This is going to be a great run.”
“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.
“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. The ship’s crew and I are looking forward to being part of a productive and highly rewarding mission.”
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