It has operated in the Gulf War and was there for Hurricane Katrina victims along the U.S. Gulf Coast but since Thursday of last week the U.S. Naval Hospital Ship "Comfort" has been quietly docked just off the coast of Belize City. On Friday we showed you the work which medical personnel from the ship were providing onshore at Price Barracks. And as promised, tonight we take you onboard the comfort for a tour of the ship which boasts of having ten times the capacity of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. The VIP tour for the U.S. Ambassador and Ministry of Health representatives was held this morning and we joined in.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This morning we joined U.S. Ambassador Robert Dieter, Health Minister Jose Coye, and the BDF's Commander Lloyd Gillett onboard the "USNS Comfort." The "Comfort" actually docked 6 miles southeast of Belize City. It is a massive vessel - it is 894 feet and 106 feet wide. Or to give you a better idea, it's the length of three football fields and it is the equivalent to a ten storey building with its own helipad - with space for two helicopters - and three radar units.
Impressive indeed but what's more interesting is the capability. The Comfort can accommodate as many as one thousand hospital beds. It also has an ultra modern CAT scan and there are 12 operating rooms - though only six were activated while in Belize. Lieutenant Commander Tracey Kunkel says they performed 41 surgeries on Belizeans.
Lt. Cmmdr, Tracey Kunkel, Surgeon
"We have done cataract surgeries, we have taken care of a club foot, we have done all different specialties - we even have done some colonoscopy. So we have done 41 procedures here in them operating rooms and they all went very well, including a couple urology procedures but every specialty we have onboard, we've done."
There is also 4 intensive care units with a capacity for 80 patients. Capt. Bruce Boynton says that in the four days that they were in Belize - they treated more than one thousand patients.
Capt. Bruce Boynton, Commander
"We've had so far, this is as of yesterday, 1,400 patient encounters and when we finished today, we would have done 40 surgeries, both adults and children, all kinds of surgeries and actually we have people out in the field working right now in dental and orphanage in Belize City."
Among those 13 hundred patients was 7 year old Byron Munoz who had a tumor removed from his chest. His mom is Andrea Munoz.
Andrea Munoz, Mother of Patient
"He had gone for surgery three times and he had a mass on his chest and it still came out and the doctor told me that he would take out a CAT Scan and the mass is not really deep so he will do surgery. So the CAT Scan showed that the mass was not very deep and he did surgery on him and everything came out very good."
Keith Swift,
So the growth has been removed?
Andrea Munoz,
"It's off and he is very fine."
Softball player Ricardo Garcia Jr. needed knee surgery.
Ricardo Garcia Jr., Underwent knee surgery
"I injured while playing softball so I got information through the news and through doctors and so that's why I am here."
Keith Swift,
So you underwent surgery?
Ricardo Garcia Jr.,
"Yes I underwent surgery yesterday at about 8:30 in the morning."
Keith Swift,
What is your condition now?
Ricardo Garcia Jr.,
"They've only told me to take care of my knee and leave some recovery time for it."
Keith Swift,
So will you return to playing softball?
Ricardo Garcia Jr.,
"Not for right now, I need to recover first and then I will think about sports."
And Captain Robert Kapcio says those are just two of the many stories. There was one that touched him.
Capt. Robert Kapcio,
"There was a young boy that came in with a club foot the other day and what the doctors were able to do for that young in the surgery was absolutely the most incredible thing I have ever seen. We have changed that boy's life for the rest of his life. We have changed his life and those are the ones that, I am not a medical officer, but as I sit there as a parent and have children of my own and I watched the reaction of the mother who just cried for hours and hours knowing that her child's life was changed forever, that tells me everything I need to know about this mission."
Both Captains say they were here to provide free medical care and to train their officers.
Captain Robert Kapcio
"It has allowed our doctors to keep their skills up and it has allowed our people to keep our skills up and also provide goodwill in our partnership. Again we talk about the partnership of South America and Latin America and the Caribbean and that's what we are down here to do. We are down here to do as much as we can to support our friends down here and see if we can continue to help in the future."
Capt. Bruce Boynton, Commander
"We this as Americans helping other Americans."
And as the last set of patients headed back to Belize City on this catamaran -for them it was mission accomplished.
The 'Comfort' leaves Belize for Guatemala tomorrow and should be there by 3 in the afternoon. The partnership for the Americas deployment is for four months and they plan to treat 85,000 patients by the time it is all over.