Also on board is the Corps Officer in Charge (OIC), CAPT Craig Shepherd, the Senior Environmental Health Officer in the Environmental Health Services Branch of the Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, CAPT Shepherd is the Chief Professional Officer of the Corps’ Environmental Health Officer category and will remain on board the USNS Comfort for the full 4 months of the mission, leading the successive USPHS teams and representing the Corps in all interactions with ship-board Navy leadership.
The Corps healthcare professionals are primarily involved in the provision of oral health and primary care services ashore in the communities adjacent to the ports visited by the ship, as well as some tertiary care services aboard ship. Corps officers lead the oral health mission to screen and treat children, but at the U.S. Navy’s request, the remaining Corps officers serve in both clinical and non-clinical roles, as subject matter experts, and perform multiple duties as assigned in support of the entire USNS Comfort mission. The Corps’ healthcare personnel partner with U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard personnel, as well as personnel from both Project Hope and Operation Smile (United States based non-governmental organizations) who are also aboard the ship, bringing total shipboard personnel to 762 individuals. If available and deemed appropriate, they also work with regional medical professionals from the Latin American and Caribbean countries visited by the ship. All personnel aboard the USNS Comfort gain valuable experience in the treatment of indigenous patients in resource poor environments – experience that will be useful as they provide care to vulnerable populations back in the United States. Interestingly, and for the first time since the Corps has been participating in joint missions aboard U.S. Navy ships, the U.S. Navy will fund all the Corps costs of travel and lodging related to this mission.
USPHS Team One consists of two dentists, four dental hygienists, six physicians, two nurses, one engineer, one environmental health officer (in addition to the OIC), and one veterinarian. In addition to the diversity of disciplines represented by the first USPHS team aboard the USNS Comfort for this mission, Corps officers hail from multiple HHS and non-HHS organizations. The support from these HHS and non-HHS organizations for their officers’ participation in the USNS Comfort mission has been outstanding. Eight of the USPHS Team One officers come from the Indian Health Service, two from the Food and Drug Administration, two from the Health Resources and Services Administration, two from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (in addition to the OIC), one from the National Institutes of Health, one from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (in the Department of Justice), and one from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USNS Comfort is delivering care in Belize City, Belize; Puerto Barrios, Guatemala; Colon, Panama; Corinto, Nicaragua; Acajutla, El Salvador; Salaverry, Peru; Manta, Ecuador; Bahia Malaga, Colombia; Port-Au-Prince, Haiti; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Georgetown, Guyana; and Paramaribo, Suriname before arriving back to Norfolk, VA, on 15 October 2007. USPHS Team One will be on board the USNS Comfort until it passes through the Panama Canal and reaches Panama City, where the team members will disembark, return to their U.S. duty stations and be replaced by USPHS Team Two.