Greetings from the Dominican Republic! I am the Command Master Chief for the Medical Treatment Facility onboard USNS COMFORT. This week, in addition to all of our work we are doing on shore, we have many Army and Navy Reservists rotating out after spending almost a month onboard. Our new shipmates are arriving and we are busy making sure they get settled in. All are eager to get to work!
Our days are long, the weather is hot and everybody looks tired by the end of the day. But no matter how tired they all are – they still have smiles on their faces! Everybody really enjoys what they are doing and are extremely happy to be a part of this mission. It is incredible to see the surgeries that are being done every day. I watched one of the cleft lip repairs on a 35 year old gentleman. After he woke up from surgery – he was so excited. The patients that are having surgery come onboard the day before; a lot of them are children. While they are waiting to get checked in, we have toys for them to play with and movies to watch. We find ourselves sitting on the deck playing with them as they race their new toy cars around. One little boy was evaluated when the COMFORT was here two years ago, but they could not do the surgery at that time. His father brought him back this year and we were able to perform his surgery.
One group of junior Hospital Corpsmen are assigned to work in the Galley as Food Service Attendants (FSA) for a good portion of the deployment. They will soon be rotating into the different medical departments, so they too can provide medical care. However, there are a couple of them that have come to me, asking to please let them stay an FSA for the remainder of the deployment! Now, that is some dedication to your job!! All of these Sailors have been working very hard every day, making sure the rest of the crew is fed, dishes are washed, mess decks are cleaned and trash is removed. And I have yet to see any of them without a smile on their face.
Our days are long, the weather is hot and everybody looks tired by the end of the day. But no matter how tired they all are – they still have smiles on their faces! Everybody really enjoys what they are doing and are extremely happy to be a part of this mission. It is incredible to see the surgeries that are being done every day. I watched one of the cleft lip repairs on a 35 year old gentleman. After he woke up from surgery – he was so excited. The patients that are having surgery come onboard the day before; a lot of them are children. While they are waiting to get checked in, we have toys for them to play with and movies to watch. We find ourselves sitting on the deck playing with them as they race their new toy cars around. One little boy was evaluated when the COMFORT was here two years ago, but they could not do the surgery at that time. His father brought him back this year and we were able to perform his surgery.
One group of junior Hospital Corpsmen are assigned to work in the Galley as Food Service Attendants (FSA) for a good portion of the deployment. They will soon be rotating into the different medical departments, so they too can provide medical care. However, there are a couple of them that have come to me, asking to please let them stay an FSA for the remainder of the deployment! Now, that is some dedication to your job!! All of these Sailors have been working very hard every day, making sure the rest of the crew is fed, dishes are washed, mess decks are cleaned and trash is removed. And I have yet to see any of them without a smile on their face.
You are all doing such a fabulous job! Thank you for making our country proud!
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