After passing through Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala and Hondurasthe hospital ship USNS Comfort of the United States Navy arrived at the port of Sans Soucí on November 27 and until December 5 it will be providing free medical services to hundreds of patients.
During a guided tour, Lt. Col. Anisa Cromer explained that originally the USNS Comfort operated as an oil tanker under the name SS Rose City and that from 1987 the tanks were removed to store fuel and it was restructured to operate as hospital shipproviding services in wars such as the one in the Persian Gulf in 1990.
Today, the vessel is used to provide medical and humanitarian services, with a capacity for 100 beds, 11 operating rooms, four X-ray machines, a CT scanner, an Intensive Care Unit and two oxygen-producing plants on board. Only during the morning of this Thursday had already been carried out 15 surgeries.
It also has services optometry for eye evaluations, a department of odontology with services as simple as a dental cleaning to others that require a complete evaluation.
The ship has its own blood bankwith 850 units available, including 350 plasma and 350 red blood cells, and the process for blood to be ready for transfusion takes between two and four hours.
The Puerto Rican sergeant works there moises rodriguezone of the most 1,100 employees adding the military part and the civil part aboard the Comfort. “This is my first mission and I am super excited. I have been in the military for 10 years.”he commented.
Under Cromer’s command is a staff of 130 peopleincluding 18 nurses, 75 medical technicians, 12 surgeons and 13 anesthesiologists, seven dentists and two optometrists.
“I feel very lucky and blessed to be able to go to different countries to help so many people,” said the military, who is carrying out her first mission in this colossal seven-story ship.
The hospital ship USNS Comfort set sail on Sunday, October 23, from the Port of Miami on a trip through Latin America that, in addition to the Dominican Republic, includes Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras and Colombia and is part of the mission Continuing Promisewhich since 2007 has treated more than 580,000 patients overallMeanwhile he USNS Comfort has received almost half a million patients and performed more than 7,000 surgeries.
Dominicans on board
Rafael Fernandez, 22 years old, is a young man born in Herrera, with roots in Bayaguana and a lover of sancocho. He’s working at the Comfort as a nursing assistant. “I have always liked helping people and I also liked medicine,” he replied about his motivation for joining the mission.
Another Dominican talent on board is the young Francisco Salvucci, a fourth-year medical student at Intec, who is volunteering to translate between patients and medical staff on the ship. This applied through the Sanar Una Nación Foundation and the Organization of Medical Students (Odem).
Third time in the Comfort
Edelia Alcántara, 37, is a young resident of Los Alcarrizos, who for third time receives medical attention on the USNS Comfort because of the neurofibromatosis suffering. This time she will have surgery on one leg.
“The love and dedication to each one of us is priceless. I have no way to thank you.” said.
