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Comfort Crew Completes CP-15 Mission Stop in Colombia

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS150721-21
Release Date: 7/21/2015 3:36:00 PM

From Continung Promise 2015 Public Affairs

BUENAVENTURA, Colombia (NNS) -- Over the course of 10 days, the Continuing Promise (CP-15) team embarked aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) provided care to over 9,300 Colombian patients from July 8-17, completing the seventh mission stop for CP-15.

The CP-15 team continued building partnerships within the region, working alongside Colombian military members, government officials, healthcare professionals and community leaders.

During Colombia, partner nation military personnel from Brazil, the Bahamas, Germany, El Salvador, Colombia and Panama were embarked aboard. In addition, volunteers from CP-15 non-governmental organizations (NGO) included participants from Latter-Day Saints Charities, Project Hope, Registered Nurse Response Network, University of California Pre-Dental Society and World Vets. Alongside the Navy, Army and Air Force military members, the partner nation and NGO volunteers provided medical, dental, veterinary and surgical care to local residents and pets, participated in subject matter expert exchanges (SMEEs) and community relations (COMRELs) events, and completed 11 engineering projects.

The CP-15 team made Colombia another successful mission stop, completing 114 surgeries aboard Comfort and working alongside Colombian medical professionals to provide services at two medical sites established at Coliseo del Centro in Buenaventura and Himno Institution Educativa Juanchaco in Juanchaco. The Buenaventura site offered a more urban setting, while the Juanchaco site provided a unique fleet landing, where those assigned to the site arrived at the Juanchaco beach each morning, walking almost a mile to the site location.

When the CP-15 Juanchaco medical site officer was asked about what made this mission stop a success, he cited teamwork and a mutual dedication as primary reasons, 'We were successful because we worked as a team,' said Cmdr. Robert Peterson, medical site officer in charge at Himno Institucion Educativa Juanchaco. 'With teamwork, and our mutual dedication to doing the best job possible, we were able to serve many patients and provide them with more than one medical service over the course of our stay here. I believe we were able to make quite a difference.'

Lt. Nicholas Michols, a family medicine physician assigned to Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, Virginia, said that being a part of the CP-15 mission has been a great opportunity to not only help others, but also to learn from others in the medical profession.

'This mission is a once-in-a-career opportunity. To reach out and help your fellow man is amazing and truly rewarding,' said Michols, who also treated patients at the Himno Institucion Educativa Juanchaco medical site. 'It is also a wonderful opportunity to be able to work alongside our host-nation counterparts including their doctors, nurses, volunteers and translators.'

Working in conjunction with local hospitals and the nearby Colombian naval base, teams of medical providers, nurses, bio-medical technicians, and preventive medicine technicians participated in dozens of SMEEs covering more than 45 topics to include radiology, mental health, infection control, vector-borne disease and mosquito control.

Mayra Rendn, a volunteer translator for the Colombian CP-15 mission, said she was impressed by the amount of time Comfort's team spent with the hospital staff during the radiology SMEE at Buenaventura Hospital.

'They were not just offering advice and guidance, but listening to the technicians' experiences and letting them know how impressed they were with the radiology facility. I feel like everyone got a lot from the exchange,' said Rendn, a second-year medical student at Universidad del Valle. 'It was also a great learning experience for me because even though I was there to translate, both the Colombian medical providers and Comfort doctors took time to teach me about scans and how to read X-rays.'

In addition to medical operations, engineering and construction teams comprised of Navy Seabees assigned to Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU) 202 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Jacksonville, Florida, worked alongside Colombian engineers to complete projects in Buenaventura at the Cavana Primary School and Citronel Escuela Anibal Munoz Duque Primary School and Hospital Luis Alblaque in Juanchaco. The Cavana Primary School offered a new project for the CP-15 mission in which the engineering team completed an entire sports field, retaining wall and bleachers for the students to utilize for sporting events and games.

'The work we were able to complete at the schools in Buenaventura will definitely help improve the learning environments for the teachers and students,' said Builder 1st Class James Vossler, assigned to CBMU 202's Jacksonville, Florida, detachment. 'We really enjoyed working with the Colombian team, while learning and sharing ideas and methods about construction.'

U.S. Army veterinarians worked with volunteers from the NGO World Vets, Colombian veterinarians and Colombian military personnel to conduct veterinary civil affairs programs in Buenaventura and El Salamo, providing services for more than 700 animals, including vitamin treatments, rabies vaccinations and spay and neuter surgeries.

More than 100 Comfort personnel also volunteered to participate in seven community relations projects, which included painting a CP-15 themed mural at Coliseo del Centro, depicting highlights of the mission, a beach clean up in Juanchaco and participation in various sporting events with local residents and Colombian military members.

The direct medical care and host-nation interaction allowed the CP-15 team of professionals to both address medical concerns, and provided the crew the opportunity to build relationships in the local communities.

'The appreciation of the people is indescribable,' said Michols. 'Each day we came ashore from the ship, there were hundreds and sometimes thousands of people lined up cheering.'

Comfort will transit through the Panama Canal before reaching its next CP-15 mission stop in Dominica. Since deploying in April, the ship has completed mission stops in Belize, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador and Colombia. Additional stops are planned for Dominican Republic, Haiti and Honduras.

Continuing Promise is a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored and U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet-conducted deployment to conduct civil-military operations including humanitarian-civil assistance, subject matter expert exchanges, medical, dental, veterinary and engineering support and disaster response to partner nations and to show the United States' continued support and commitment to Central and South America and the Caribbean.