Floating hospital cares for Belizeans
On Friday we introduced viewers to some of the good works being done at Price Barracks by the visiting medical personnel of the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Comfort. Today News Five’s Kendra Griffith travelled across Belize City Harbour for a tour of the ship itself.
Kendra Griffith, Reporting
On June fifteenth, the United States Navy Hospital Ship Comfort left Virginia for a three-month, twelve country humanitarian exercise. Its first stop was Belize.
Capt. Robert Kapcio, Mission Commander, USNS Comfort
“It’s a joint military operation. We have almost all the services represented, the Army, the Coast Guard, the Air Force. We have mostly Navy but we do have representatives from the other services. We are in partnership with what we refer to as Non Governmental Organizations, N.G.O.’s. We have Project Hope on board and will soon have Operation Smile on board.”
Robert Dieter, U.S. Ambassador to Belize
“The Comfort’s mission is to do humanitarian exercises in preparation for disaster relief in the event that that became necessary in this region and also to demonstrate our continuing commitment to the countries in the Caribbean and throughout Latin America.”
The Comfort is nine hundred feet long, a hundred and six feet wide, and boasts everything that a land-based hospital has, if not more. It comes equipped with a thousand beds, twelve operating rooms, four X-ray rooms, a CAT-scan, and dental suite.
This morning, the media, along with officials from the Ministry of Health, the U.S. Embassy, Belize Defence Force, and Coast Guard were given a tour of the facilities.
Since anchoring in the country on Wednesday, the Comfort and its over five hundred healthcare professionals have been conducting medical and dental clinics on land and performing operations at sea. Hospital Corpsman First Class Fausto Munoz is a urology technician onboard the Comfort.
H.M.1 Fausto Munoz
“We have done patients with prostate problems. We’ve done patients that have some amputation revisions; we’ve had hernia repairs, general surgery.”
Capt. Bruce Boynton, Commanding Officer, Medical Corps USNS Comfort
“We’ve had about thirteen hundred patient encounters. We’re doing surgery right now; we have dentists and paediatricians out in the country right now. By day’s end, we’ll have done forty-one surgeries.”
Those patients are brought aboard the ship either by helicopter or boat. Jose Alberto Gomez, from the Orange Walk District, brought his father in for a prostate procedure.
Jose Alberto Gomez, Father had Operation
“My dad he had a surgery and well I think everything come out good.”
Gomez and his dad have been on the ship since Friday and after a successful operation are going back home. Also returning to his home in Belmopan today is eleven year old Devin Tate who had a growth removed from his head.
Devin Tate, Had Operation
“It didn’t hurt at all, I just was right there. You couldn’t see it that good because hair was covering it and it was growing.”
Kendra Griffith
“How was it being operated on, on a ship?”
Devin Tate
“Kind of weird, but it was good.”
In addition to performing medical procedures, the Comfort donated forty-one thousand dollars worth of medical supplies to Belize’s hospitals and conducted training for medical personnel. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.
The Comfort leaves Belize on Tuesday morning for Guatemala.
