U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort will anchor off the Haitian coast today, marking its final Continuing Promise 2015 mission stop with an opening ceremony.
Since April, the U.S. Southern Command hospital ship has taken a team of U.S. military medical and construction personnel, private-aid organizations and partner-nation officials to 11 Latin American and Caribbean nations, treating more than 100,000 patients and performing community-assistance projects.
The ship visited Belize, Colombia, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Panama, according to Defense Department officials.
Haiti is the final mission stop, but the ship will also stop at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for a two-day port visit, and Naval Station Mayport, Florida, for a one-day visit after it leaves Haiti on its return to homeport, according to U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. Fourth Fleet sources.
While in Haiti, sailors from the ship will demonstrate the Continuing Promise 2015 mission and capabilities to its Haitian hosts, and administer medical and dental care to Haitian patients, while surgeries will be performed onboard.
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Image: US Navy