2009 News
USNS Comfort Finishes Mission in El Salvador
A ceremony with the participation of Charge d’Affaires Robert Blau, and Salvadoran Minister of Defense, General David Munguia Payes marked the end of the mission that brought health care to thousands of Salvadorans.
USNS Comfort arrived in El Salvador on Sunday, June 21 and remained anchored at the Gulf of Fonseca. Now that its mission is finished it will depart El Salvador on July 2, and head for Nicaragua, the last stop of the Continuing Promise 2009 mission. Although final numbers are not yet available, as of June 30, after nine days, Comfort personnel and its Salvadoran counterparts had seen 23,128 patients, handed 3,245 eyeglasses and performed 150 surgeries on board. Veterinarians saw 2,154 animals.
While in El Salvador, the medical teams from the Comfort partnered with local health care providers and community officials to provide free health care to communities with limited access to medical treatment. These services include general surgery, ophthalmologic surgery, basic medical evaluation and treatment, preventive medicine, dental screenings and treatment, optometry screenings, eyeglass distribution, veterinary services, and public health training.
Comfort teams carried out five Medical Training Exercises in different municipalities in La Union: Jose Pantoja hijo Educational Center, June 22 to June 26; Republic of Argentina School in San Alejo, June 22 to June 24; Loma Larga Educational Center, June 25 to June 28; Ramon Mendoza Educational Center in Pasaquina, June 27 to July 1 and El Carmen Educational Center, June 29 to July 1.
During the mission, U.S. Navy Engineers, also known as SEABEES, worked alongside 20 Salvadoran military engineers to improve the countrys health care by constructing the nutrition center that will benefit children in El Havillal community in La Union. The SEABEES also built a fence around school Club de Leones and repaired the Special Education school, also in La Union.
USNS Comfort also brought to El Salvador 70 pallets containing medical supplies, school supplies, wheelchairs, clothing, shoes, bed clothes and toys, which will be distributed by the Ministry of Health and local NGOs to 50 health clinics in the 18 La Union municipalities. USNS Comfort’s technicians also repaired medical equipment for national hospitals of the eastern zone of El Salvador.
This is the Comforts second mission to El Salvador. In 2007, the Comfort offered its services in Sonsonate.