USNS COMFORT’s Humanitarian Mission in Central America & the Caribbean
The USNS COMFORT hospital ship of the United States Navy will carry out a medical and humanitarian assistance mission to Honduras, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the last months of this year, a diplomatic source in Tegucigalpa reported on Monday.
¡Estoy muy orgullosa y tremendamente entusiasmada con la próxima visita del USNS Comfort a Honduras! Los equipos médico de ?? y ?? proveerán atención en salud a cientos de Hondureños. @USNavy @Southcom @saludgobhn @FFAAHN https://t.co/GBuC9Ex4t8
— Embajadora Laura F. Dogu (@USAmbHonduras) August 22, 2022
This will be the first trip that the Comfort, built in 1987, will carry out since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, said the US ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Laura Dogu.
“The United States is proud to share some of our best medical care with our Honduran brothers and sisters,” the diplomat stressed. She added that as all of its “collaborative activities, foreign assistance, and high-level US visitors to Honduras since November of last year have shown, the United States has a unique and special relationship with the Honduran people.”
The USNS COMFORT visit is part of the US Naval Forces Southern Command and Fourth Fleet Mission called, “Enduring Promise 2022,” detailed the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa through a press release. This is the eighth time this hospital ship has visited Central America and the Caribbean since 2007.
Since then, COMFORT and Enduring Promise medical staff have treated more than 582,000 people, including performing more than 7,000 surgeries. They have also completed over 100 engineering projects in the last 16 years. They have conducted hundreds of subject matter expert exchanges along with other community relations projects and outreach activities.
USNS Comfort medical teams work alongside medical personnel from partner nations. In Honduras and the other countries where it will stop this time, they will provide medical care on board the ship and in medical brigades on land.
The medical and dental care capabilities offered by the COMFORT during this visit will help Honduran communities and other partner nations with a wide range of health services. They include general adult care, pediatric care, dental treatment and optometry. In addition, limited surgical procedures will be offered.
Medical teams will also offer subject matter expert exchanges on various medical topics, provide limited veterinary care, and offer training including humanitarian assistance and disaster first aid workshops, detailed the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa.
In addition, they will give a seminar on Women, Peace and Security (WPS for its acronym in English). WPS is a United Nations initiative that began in 2000. It recognizes that women are more affected by conflict and crisis; including women in security planning will lead to a more peaceful world.
USNS COMFORT Recent Missions
The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS COMFORT provided medical assistance to Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Honduras October – December 2018, as part of U.S. Southern Command’s Enduring Promise initiative.
For this mission, U.S. personnel worked alongside partners to provide medical assistance to a combined 26,701 patients. This marked the hospital ship’s sixth deployment to Latin America and the Caribbean since 2007 and reflected the United States’ enduring promise of friendship, partnership, and solidarity with the Americas.
Continuing Promise 2015 – From April- September 2015, Comfort visited Barbados, Belize, Colombia, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Panama. CP-15 personnel treated more than 120,000 patients and conducted more than 1,200 surgeries. The homecoming also marked the first time Comfort has returned to Norfolk from a deployment since the ship shifted lay berth from Baltimore, Md. to Norfolk, Va. in 2013.
Continuing Promise 2011 – From April – September 2011, Comfort served as the platform for humanitarian and civic assistance missions in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Peru. During the mission, shipboard medical personnel treated more than 67,000 people.
COMFORT is a 1,000 bed hospital ship commissioned in 1986, with a military cadre crew of approximately eight Officers and 53 Enlisted personnel and a civilian mariner cadre crew of approximately 15 personnel while in a Reduced Operating Status (ROS). The ship is berthed in Norfolk, Va., where a small crew of civil service mariners and Navy personnel maintain the ship in a high state of readiness.
Along with USNS Mercy, COMFORT provides an afloat, mobile, acute surgical medical facilities when called upon to the U.S. military, and hospital services to support U.S. disaster relief and humanitarian operations worldwide.
Soledad Quartucci | Latina Republic
Dr. Soledad Quartucci is the founder and CEO of Latina Republic, a 501(C)3 California-based nonprofit organization. Latina Republic is committed to improving the diversity and professional development of storytellers in the media industry as representation matters and affects the stories we tell. Latina Republic makes space for and empowers unheard voices and trains the next generation of leaders in the U.S.