Public Health Service To Embark Last Comfort Team
Posted On: Sep 7 2007 9:18AM
 

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joan E. Kretschmer

 

CARIBBEAN SEA – U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) will undergo a final turnover of personnel aboard Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), while in Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, Sept. 13.

 

USPHS has had three teams comprised of approximately 18 officers each aboard Comfort that have rotated out on a monthly basis. The next team is the fourth and last to embark Comfort on this deployment.

 

The USPHS officers come from several agencies, such as the Indian Health Service, Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 

“These agencies can release these officers for a one-month assignment, but to do so for four months would be problematic for the agencies,” said Capt. Craig Shepherd, a USPHS chief environmental health officer and officer in charge (OIC) of USPHS aboard Comfort. “So a one-month deployment time works best.”

 

Shepherd has been aboard Comfort since the four-month deployment began in June and works closely with the staff at USPHS Office of Force Readiness and Deployment to make sure the transition from one team to the next is flawless.

 

“Depth, expertise, diversity and willingness to learn and work with other health care professionals is what USPHS brings to Comfort’s mission,” Shepherd said.

 

USPHS has worked alongside the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard, Canadian Forces and non-governmental organizations (NGO) Project Hope and Operation Smile, as well as civilian mariners from Military Sealift Command.

 

Each team has built upon from the experiences of the prior team, Shepherd added. They have arrived to Comfort more organized and with the ability to blend right in with the other services and NGOs aboard.

“It is great to see so many different organizations come together to support a common cause,” said Lt. j.g. Nikki Langenderfer, a USPHS registered dental hygienist and member of Team 3. “This has definitely been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

 

Langenderfer, who works full time with the Bureau of Prisons in Milan, Mich.,  has provided preventative dental services, patient education and triage during her assignment to Comfort.

 

Langenderfer feels fortunate that the agency she works for made her available for Comfort’s mission.

“I volunteered immediately,” Langenderfer said. “I have always wanted to be a part of a humanitarian mission and I knew this would be a wonderful opportunity to represent the USPHS and Comfort’s mission.”

 

The different USPHS teams have brought different capabilities to the table, such as medical, dental, nursing, veterinarian, pharmacy, engineering and environmental health services.

 

“It’s interesting to see as an OIC over the one-month period of time how teams bond and how many become close friends,” Shepherd said. “One team is planning a reunion next year in conjunction with a USPHS conference. I believe this will hold true for all teams in that many will become life-long friends and colleagues from their experience they shared aboard Comfort.”

 

USPHS has positively impacted Comfort’s mission, Langenderfer said.

 

 “We have gained camaraderie with other uniformed services and organizations through professionalism, respect and teamwork,” Langenderfer said.

 

Comfort is on a four-month humanitarian deployment to Latin America and the Caribbean providing medical care to patients in a dozen countries.

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Photos

(Click photo to view Hi-Resolution)
U.S. Public Health Service Lt. Cmdr. Sandra Bender, attached to Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), listens to the lungs of a patient at the Centre Hospitalier Eliazar Germain in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sept. 3, 2007. Comfort is on a four-month humanitarian deployment to Latin America and the Caribbean providing medical treatment to patients in a dozen countries. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Fields) (Released)
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