Comfort Offers Services to Injured OIF Vets
August 7, 2007

*****

ACAJUTLA, El Salvador – The U.S. Naval hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) provided medical services for eight Salvadoran veterans injured in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in Acajutla, El Salvador, July 28.

Early in the morning, the eight veterans arrived at Comfort. Throughout the day, the Salvadoran soldiers were provided with services ranging from follow-up consultations to minor surgeries, including one surgery performed on Gumercindo Garcia, a Salvadoran army sergeant, to remove shrapnel from a grenade explosion.

Garcia was on duty April 2, 2006, guarding a compound in Najaf, Iraq, when a grenade exploded, digging shrapnel deep into his right shoulder and neck, leaving memories of a day he’d rather forget.

Cmdr. Jeff Lowell, a general surgeon with the U.S. Public Health Service, and Lt. Cmdr. Angela Powell, a Navy pediatric surgeon, worked carefully under bright surgical lights, delicately removing tiny pieces of the long-since spent grenade embedded in Garcia’s body.

An hour after the surgery is complete, the raw metal removed, the joint-service surgeons stitched the wound closed.

Another OIF veteran and Comfort patient, Jose Herrera, also a sergeant in the Salvadoran army, was reunited by fate with the same nurses who first took care of him at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md., over a year ago when he returned in critical condition from the conflict in Iraq.

“He was in such bad shape when he arrived,” said Lt. Kristina Oliver, a nurse corps officer aboard Comfort, recalling the first time he arrived at Bethesda. “He was so thin and his jaw was wired shut. We had to feed him through a feeding tube, and he lost a lot of weight.”

When Herrera was brought aboard Comfort for routine medical treatment, Lt. j.g. Melissa McMurry said she recognized him immediately.

“I saw him from behind, and the height fit, but his weight looked so much healthier,” she said. “I honestly couldn’t believe it was him – never in a million years did I expect to see him again.”

Herrera was wounded while guarding a government compound in Najaf, Iraq, when a grenade exploded July 16, 2006. Herrera said he doesn’t recall anything for eight days, during which he was transported to Germany, and forwarded to Bethesda for extended care.

“We took care of him every day,” said Oliver. “We treated him like one of our guys. Any time VIPs or movie stars came to Bethesda, they met Jose. Really, nobody knows what it’s like to nurse OIF soldiers back to health until they’ve done it. The experience is amazing, and what’s even more amazing is to see one of those patients again, especially in a foreign country.”

Herrera said he was just as surprised to see the nursing team again as they were to see him.

“I felt very excited to see them again,” Herrera said through a translator. “I didn’t think there was any likelihood of seeing them again. They took care of me, and that means so much to me; I thank God for them.”

McMurry explained that the ward she and Oliver worked in, Ward Five East, along with two other Comfort crew members, was known for treating OIF patients.

“Occasionally, we get e-mails from the patients and their families thanking them, but never anything like this,” said McMurry. “This is just incredible. It’s great to see that Jose is doing so well, and he looks so much better.”

Although Comfort is in a different hemisphere, thousands of miles away from the continuing conflict in Iraq, having the opportunity to treat these veterans was an honor and a sober reminder, said Capt. Bob Kapcio, Comfort’s mission commander.

“We’re honored to be able to offer our services to Iraqi Freedom veterans,” Boynton said. “These are people who were injured in the line of duty - people who are dedicated to supporting the global efforts to combat terrorism.”


By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tyler Jones
USNS Comfort Public Affairs

Click on the image to enlarge it