Haiti Infants Receive Care Aboard Comfort

100127-N-8366W-005 USNS COMFORT T-AH 20), At Anchor (Jan. 27, 2010) – Cmdr. Sue Adamson updates a patient’s medical chart after a follow-up examination on board the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20). Working in the pediatric ward aboard Comfort, Adamson is contributing to Operation Unified Response by helping pregnant women and their babies affected by the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12. Food, water and medical assistance are being provided to the Haitian people to help ease their suffering and assist in rebuilding their country. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Timothy Wilson/RELEASED)

Pediatrics Aboard Comfort

100127-N-8366W-004 USNS COMFORT (T-AH 20), At Anchor (Jan. 27, 2010) – Cmdr. Sue Adamson holds a newborn Haitian baby girl on board the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20). Adamson works in the Pediatric clinic, contributing to Operation Unified Response, a multinational effort to ease the pain and suffering of the Haitian people by providing food, water and medical treatment. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean nation Jan. 12 leaving the country in ruin. Comfort is tending to a spectrum of injuries and wounds caused by the disaster. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Timothy Wilson/RELEASED)

Brooklyn Nurse Serves Aboard Comfort

100129-N-6410J-051 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 29, 2010) – Ensign Erica M. Diamond, a nurse aboard USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) who hails from Brooklyn, New York, gently holds a newborn infant in her arms. The crew of the hospital ship continues to treat Haitian victims of an earthquake that struck Jan. 12. More than 30 countries and 100 non-governmental organizations are contributing to Operation Unified Response, an international endeavor to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to Haiti. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matthew Jackson/Released)

Care Aboard Comfort

100129-N-6410J-050 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 29, 2010) – Ensign Erica M. Diamond, a nurse aboard USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) who hails from Brooklyn, New York, gently holds a newborn infant in her arms. The crew of the hospital ship continues to treat Haitian victims of an earthquake that struck Jan. 12. More than 30 countries and 100 non-governmental organizations are contributing to Operation Unified Response, an international endeavor to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to Haiti. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matthew Jackson/Released)

Working Hard for the People of Haiti

Apologize for the delay in updating you all on where things are with the Comfort, but as you can guess we have been quite busy over the past few days. We have already seen more than 500 patients and conducted well over 100 surgeries.

As we go along, our processes just keep getting better allowing us to help more people. It's amazing to watch the teamwork and camaraderie develop. We usually take our first patients of the day at around 7 a.m. and continue embarking patients up to sunset. We can't fly patients after sunset over the water unless it's an emergency.

While the admittance of patients may stop at sunset, it doesn't mean we are done for the day. We ensure that we fill every bed in casualty receiving and the holding wards to maximize our patient flow.

We also use this time to take on supplies via helicopters. This usually requires a team of 40 Sailors or so, who have already put in a full day elsewhere. They do not complain, though. They came here to help and know that supplies are critical to our ability to do so.

When walking around at night, the fact that the ship never sleeps is apparent. Our wards are filling up, the OR runs to early in the morning, the ICU's are packed.

As night sets in, there is quiet professionalism displayed by the medical professionals as they go about the business of providing care to the injured. The supply folks move supplies to where they are needed so as not to impact the high volume of patient flow, the galley is open 24-hours-a-day, and the ships store and barbershop have extended hours to meet the demands of all of the shift work being done.

Every person aboard is focused and willing to give everything they have to help. And they do! With every little bit that they do, in each and every hour, from night to day, they are making a difference for the people of Haiti.

Lt. Cmdr. Felicia Smith Photo Request

100125-N-4047W-025 PORT-AU-PRINCE, At Anchor (Jan. 25, 2010) – Lt. Cmdr. Felecia Smith, a Family Nurse Practitioner from Brookhaven, Ms., dresses an amputees wound with the help of Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Steven Buckingham of Eureka, Calif. Smith and Buckingham are part of the wound care team aboard USNS Comfort (T-AH 20). Comfort is in Haiti supporting Operation Unified Response by providing medical care to people injured during the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck the area Jan. 12. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Shannon Warner/RELEASED)

Day 3

Yesterday was a blur of activity for the crew aboard Comfort as 68 patients were embarked for treatment. Additionally, the ship received additional crew members via small boats.

Our new crew members are a welcome sight. Like those on board, they have a can do attitude and are ready to help wherever they can. Some were directly involved in caring for patients within 90 minutes of their arrival.

In addition to the new crew members, we have embarked several Red Cross and Navy translators to ensure there is a clear line of communication between our doctors and the patients they are caring for.

Everyone is giving their all in this effort, not only doing the jobs that they were called to do here, but also assisting in other areas wherever they can. Sleep is a commodity that no one wants to purchase, instead pouring their all into the effort, getting just enough to maintain their sharpness to guarantee the best level of care that can be provided.

The good work continues and today will bring another wave of patients who need help, and the crew of Comfort stands ready to meet the demand from the very depth of their being.

Baby Esther

100121-N-6410J-485 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 21, 2010) – Esther, the first baby born aboard USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) sleeps in the pediatric ward after being delivered at 2:27 p.m. EST. Born seven weeks premature, she weighs less than five pounds, but entered the world healthy and without complications aboard the hospital ship. Comfort is in the Caribbean nation supporting Operation Unified Response. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matthew Jackson/Released)

A New Life Aboard Comfort

100121-N-6410J-483 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 21, 2010) – Medical professionals aboard USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) delivered baby Esther at 2:27 p.m. Jan. 21, She is the first baby delivered aboard the 1,000-bed floating hospital, which is in Haiti supporting Operation Unified Response. Weighing less than five pounds, baby Esther was delivered prematurely via cesarean section due to her mother having sustained a pelvis and femur fracture during the earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12. Despite being premature, she is healthy and was delivered without complications. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matthew Jackson/Released)

Day 2

In the past few days, Comfort's creww has touched hundreds lives touched with her healing power. The crew of the ship is definitely living up to their motto of “Care of the sick on the Sea.” Today was definitely a day an unforgettable day for crew members. At 2:27 p.m., highly skilled pediatric professionals LCDR Erika Beard-Irvine and LCDR Shannon Lamb performed the flawless delivery of a baby girl, Esther, into the world. She weighed 4 lbs, 5 oz., was born healthy with no health problems, and has been breathing on her own.

Baby Esther was born 7 weeks premature and was named by her mother shortly before her c-section delivery. Her mother was aboard Comfort receiving care from injuries suffered in the earthquake that devastated Haiti Jan. 12. Fractures to her pelvis and femur caused her water to break early.

The Haitian woman underwent surgery following her c-section to fix her broken bones. As of this morning, Esther’s mom was in the Intensive Care Unit and she has yet to meet her baby girl.

This experience brought an additional level of morale to a crew that was already motivated.

So far, Comfort has seen 184 patients. 58 of those patients have undergone surgery.

Day 1

The USNS Comfort arrived off the coast of Port Au Prince this morning at approximately 0630 and dropped anchor just past 0800. Our wake up call on this day was a registered 5.9 earthquake that shook the ship as if it were exercising severe stern propulsion. Nonetheless, activity continued on pace as we were set to continue our patient transfer procedures.

Today was amazing for several reasons. Although their were faces which held despairand pain, there was relief from healing hands and an apparent admiration for the skill and compassion of the doctors, nurses and corpsmen aboard this ship. We all wear the uniform and we all serve a singular purpose to defend America; but here on this ship today, men and women of the United States Navy saved lives and genuinely performed out of the goodness of their hearts with the steely determination of their skilled minds. It was, to say the least, inspirational.

This is a feeling that you want to hold, that you want to keep it in a bottle and place it where you can see it and touch it all day long. It's the feeling of doing good for the sake of doing good and not because you're being watched or that there is another ulterior motive in mind. These men and women want to do their jobs and do it well. They deserve applause.

We will continue to communicate the story of what is happening here: the real life that is happening here, the humanity that is happening here, the good that is happening here. For it is truly - INSPIRATIONAL.

Six-Year-Old Safe Aboard Comfort

100119-N-4995K-125 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Jan. 19, 2010) Medical professionals aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) treat a six-year-old Haitian boy in the casualty receiving room aboard the 1,000-bed hospital ship. The boy transferred to Comfort by helicopter from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) for treatment for an injury to his bladder and a hip fracture during an earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan 12. The boy is in the intensive care unit aboard Comfort in stable condition. Comfort is supporting Operation Unified Response, a joint operation providing humanitarian assistance to Haiti. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Chelsea Kennedy/Released)

Six-Year-Old Treated Aboard Comfort

100119-N-8366W-067 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Jan. 19, 2010) Medical professionals aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) treat a six-year-old Haitian boy in the casualty receiving room aboard the 1,000-bed hospital ship. The boy transferred to Comfort by helicopter from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) for treatment for an injury to his bladder and a hip fracture during an earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan 12. The boy is in the intensive care unit aboard Comfort in stable condition. Comfort is supporting Operation Unified Response, a joint operation providing humanitarian assistance to Haiti. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Timothy Wilson/Released)

Six-Year-Old Assessed Aboard Comfort

100119-N-4995K-187 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Jan. 19, 2010) Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Adam Buzzeo prepares medical equipment during the assessment of a six-year-old Haitian boy brought aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20). The boy, who was Comfort's first patient as part of Operation Unified Response, suffered an injury to his bladder and a hip fracture during an earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan 12. The boy is in the intensive care unit aboard Comfort in stable condition. Comfort is supporting Operation Unified Response, a joint operation providing humanitarian assistance to Haiti. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Chelsea Kennedy/Released)

First Haiti Patients Heading to Comfort

For many on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States the workday is over. However, for the civilian and Navy crewmembers aboard USNS Comfort steaming to provide relief to Haitians devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the workday thought over began anew.

Shortly after 9 p.m. the loudspeakers aboard the ship, used to pass general messages, rang out an announcement that the ship would be going to flight quarters. This initial call to action was followed by other messages for medical team leaders to begin preparations to receive patients.

The ship took on a new life as aviation personnel, doctors, nurses, corpsman and other support services personnel mustered to prepare the floating 1,000-bed hospital to receive it's first two patients, inbound via helicopter from USS Carl Vinson.

The sheer thought of it is amazing. Just three days ago, Comfort got underway from her homeport of Baltimore to begin what was thought to be a six-day trip before the first patients would arrive. Instead, they are now on their way three days early due to the tireless efforts of the crew, who got the ship deployed in record time. This too is an astounding feat, given that the ship's mission requirement dictates that she be prepared to sail in no less than five days once a deployment order is received. Comfort did it in less than 77 hours!

In the three days that Comfort has been underway, the combined crew leaned forward on all fronts. All hands worked long hours to meet the needs of the patients they now have inbound. Their enthusiasm is contagious and has shown at the end of each day by the lack of standing room on the mess decks for nightly briefs to the crew. While not mandatory, the briefs have drawn a full house each night. Camaraderie is apparent at the briefs, which keep our Sailors abreast of any of the changes in our plans.

This evening, though, changes to the plan came quickly when coordination between key members aboard Carl Vinson and Comfort determined that patients intended to fly aboard Comfort tomorrow were in critical condition and needed top medical care tonight. The choice was an easy one for those aboard both vessels, and the decision was made to affect the transfer tonight to give a six-year-old boy with a bladder injury and pelvic fracture and a 20-year-old man with a head injury and skull fracture their best chances at a future brighter than the one presented in the aftermath of Jan. 12.

Tonight begins yet another step in the United States commitment to our Haitian neighbors already begun by our brothers and sisters on board Carl Vinson, Bataan, and our sister services. We are proud to be here to help. We are capable and eager to face the uncertain challenges of the days ahead. Most of all, we are thankful to be here early to bring much needed aid to our friends in Haiti!