Meet the lesser-known aspect of the military — its humanitarian side. While they may not have been saving lives in war zones, these medics were hard at work — and that’s a good thing. Over the past four months 1,500 international military personnel and local volunteers worked tirelessly aboard the USNS Comfort.
The Miami Herald reported that, “the Comfort’s crew traveled to seven countries, performed more than 1,600 surgeries, wrote nearly 200,000 prescriptions, and provided 43,000 pairs of glasses. All told, the crew treated over 100,000 people who lacked access to advanced medical care. One-third of the patients were children.”
Each port along the tour of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, El Salvador and Nicaragua was allotted 10 days of attention. While most procedures addressed cataracts and hernias, doctors also set broken bones and mended cleft palates, a condition that left when left untreated can be life threatening. The simple surgery is literally life altering for the children who are fortunate enough to receive it.
And unlike being in a war zone, having many patients to attend on the Comfort is a good thing. “In Iraq or Afghanistan, if I’m busy with patients, it’s been a very bad day. There has been some sort of catastrophe,” said Navy Cmdr. Tim Donahue, the ship’s director of surgery. “Here, if I’m busy, it’s a great day.”
So the next time the military sparks association of aggression and war, think of the USNS Comfort and its powerful healing quality.
Photo courtesy of Journalist 1st Class Preston Keres via Commons Wikimedia.