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Comfort Departs Peru, Heads for Ecuador

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS070814-17
Release Date: 8/14/2007 2:48:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kelly E. Barnes, USNS Comfort Public Affairs

ABOARD USNS COMFORT (NNS) -- Hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) departed Peru Aug. 13, after nearly a week of humanitarian operations in the country.

Comfort offered services in four locations in and around the city of Salaverry, a small port city on the Pacific Coast, and in Trujillo. Medical services were offered at the Miguel Grau School, Sanchez Carrion School, Trujillo Regional Teaching Hospital and Jose Alaya School. Those services included primary adult and pediatric care, dental services, optometry and veterinarian care.

Conducting large-scale operations in four locations simultaneously was no easy task, said Comfort’s mission commander Capt. Bob Kapcio. The mission required the all-hands participation of Comfort’s joint-agency crew. Members of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, Military Sealift Command, Canadian Forces, and civilian non-governmental organizations Project Hope and Operation Smile all played a big part in this mission.

“It’s hard when we have to leave these countries because we’ve come to know people and make friends here,” Kapcio said. “But it just means we’re going somewhere else to provide more help and care for those in need.”

While in Peru, 28 Operation Smile volunteers performed nearly 30 surgeries on children with facial deformities. The team consisted of medical personnel and assistants with varied skills to meet the needs of the children.

The teamwork between Operation Smile volunteers and everyone deployed with Comfort offered Peruvian citizens medical care and support, along with a message of hope.

“The biggest part of this whole experience is the building of relationships,” said Ann Campbell, a registered nurse for Operation Smile. “I’m so thrilled that our government sees the value in medical diplomacy. That’s the only way I see the world changing.”

In addition to medical services the Comfort team provided, the embarked Naval Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 202’s community projects in Peru included building a concrete theater stage, building 10 new soccer goals, and performing various plumbing and electrical repairs at Sanchez Carrion, Miguel Grau and Jose Alaya public schools.

Comfort also offered tangible gifts, in the form of medical equipment and supplies, clothing and toys donated by Project Handclasp, a U.S. non-profit charitable organization. More than $11,000 worth of goods were donated to the people of Peru, including three hospital beds, hospital furniture and children’s and infants’ clothing.

“Every day during this port visit, people here kept telling me about how the Project Hope ship, SS Hope, was here for three months 30 years ago,” Kapcio said. “One of our goals is that the Comfort will also be remembered in the years to come for the time we were here.”

Comfort will visit Ecuador next, continuing its four-month humanitarian deployment to Latin America and the Caribbean. The ship is providing medical treatment to patients in a dozen countries and will return to the U.S. in October.