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Comfort Completes visit to El Salvador

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS070803-26
Release Date: 8/3/2007 3:15:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tyler Jones, USNS Comfort Public Affairs

ACAJUTLA, El Salvador (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) wrapped up its six-day mission in Acajutla July 31 with a ceremony in the town’s municipal park.

During the ceremony, local officials and senior Comfort leadership exchanged gifts commemorating the event, and local school children shared their culture by performing a traditional Salvadoran dance.

During the six-day visit, Comfort’s patient encounters for El Salvador totaled nearly 48,000 people, including 111 surgeries, more than 16,600 prescriptions and more than 3,600 vaccinations. The visit marks the fifth of a dozen stops in Latin America and the Caribbean that Comfort will make during the ship’s large-scale humanitarian deployment.

“El Salvador is a beautiful country, full of gracious people and an amazing culture,” said Capt. Bob Kapcio, Comfort’s mission commander. “It truly has been our pleasure to come to this wonderful place and help those in need. In addition to helping people, this mission is about building bridges and strengthening partnerships, and I feel we accomplished that here through teamwork between Salvadoran medical professionals and our own medical staff.”

Comfort’s mission on shore included patient treatment at the Unidad de Salud Acajutla medical facility, the Caseria Costa Brava School and the Delfina Rivas School. U.S. Navy biomedical repair technicians also repaired medical equipment at the Hospital Sonsonate while Seabees from Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 202 renovated several work sites, fixing water systems, roofing and overhauling several structures.

Several high-level Salvadoran officials and international ambassadors, including the American, Japanese, French and Colombian ambassadors to El Salvador visited and toured the ship July 29.

Salvadoran President Anthonio “Tony” Saca was El Salvador’s first distinguished visitor to visit Comfort when he boarded the ship July 28 in Acajutla for a tour and the opportunity to speak with crew members and patients about Comfort’s mission in El Salvador.

Comfort provided an surprise reunion for nurses from Bethesda Naval Medical Center and an injured Operation Iraqi Freedom Salvadoran veteran, when Jose Herrera boarded the ship for routine follow-up care July 28 and was recognized by three nurses who had previously cared for him. Lt. j.g. Rebekah Hannay, Lt. j.g. Melissa McMurry and Lt. Kristina Oliver treated Herrera over a year ago at Bethesda when he returned in critical condition from the conflict.

“I saw him from behind and the height fit, but his weight looked much healthier,” said McMurry. “I honestly couldn’t believe it was him – never in a million years did I expect to see him again. Occasionally, we get e-mails from former patients, but never anything like this. It was just incredible. He’s doing so well, and he looks so much better now.”

Another vital part of Comfort’s Salvadoran mission was biomedical repair, conducted at various locations in the Acajutla area. The ship’s eight-person biomedical repair team repaired various machines at both civilian and military hospitals in El Salvador, and provided hands-on training to host-nation technicians.

“It’s been a pleasure being out here and helping people,” said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class (SW) Thomas Wyatt, a Comfort biomedical repair technician. “Not just for a short period, but we want this to be a long-term relationship that we’re establishing. We look forward to coming back in the future and working with them again.”

Part of Comfort’s long-term mission is education and training, so that future generations will be able to pass on techniques and knowledge in life-saving practices. The non-governmental organization Project Hope educated nearly 100 Salvadoran health care workers in hygiene and first aid at the Casa Comunal in Acajutla, July 29. The goal is to have the newly-trained Salvadorans provide the training to future generations.

The trainees were community health care workers who work at Casa Comunal and act as liaisons between the community and local health posts.

“Education is one of those things that you leave behind and it can grow on its own,” said Michelle Pena, a registered nurse with Project Hope. “So in the sense of sustainability, education is the best way to go about it.”

Project Hope, which stands for Health Opportunities for People Everywhere, is a non-profit organization that focuses on health education and training. The expectation is that this training will carry on for years, said Pena.

U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Charles Glazer was quick to point out Comfort’s contribution to political stability in the nation, saying the services the crew provides are important and are playing a vital role in showing the good will of the American people towards El Salvador.

Comfort will continue similar missions throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Originally announced in March by President George W. Bush, the 120-day mission is designed to strengthen the relationship between the region and the United States.