SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (WAVY) – The USNS Comfort, a US Navy hospital ship, completed its fourth mission stop of Continuing Promise 2022 in Santo Domingo earlier this month.
The Comfort team, comprised of medical professionals from the US, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Canada, UK, the Netherlands and Chile, provided care for 4,435 patients at medical sites in Santo Domingo and Azua. The team also filled 7,446 prescriptions, conducted 209 x-rays and 78 ultrasounds, and performed 87 surgeries aboard the ship.
Additionally, the Comfort worked alongside the local government and 25 non-governmental organizations to conduct subject matter expert exchanges (SMEEs), Women, Peace and Security (WPS) initiative seminars and activities, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) projects. The team also participated in community relations (COMREL) events in line with Continuing Promise lines of effort.
Twelve SMEEs were completed during the mission stop, covering a range of topics including basic life support, veterinary services, food safety, and dermatology. This allowed for a total of 12,941 personnel from the community to be engaged by the Comfort team, along with the two medical sites.
The team also hosted two women’s health fairs, a military-to-military roundtable, and a volleyball event to support the WPS line of effort.
Since the inauguration of Continuing Promise in 2007, Comfort medical teams have treated more than 484,000 patients, which comprises over 83% of the patients treated during all Continuing Promise missions, and conducted more than 7,400 surgeries.
Comfort’s current mission is the 12th Continuing Promise mission conducted in the US Southern Command/US 4th Fleet area of responsibility.
