Associate Director of Nursing Services on board the USNS Comfort, Lieutenant Commander George Menninger, says the ‘floating hospital ship’ is able to care for close to 1,000 patients at a time.
The USNS Comfort, a Mercy-class hospital ship operated by the United States Navy, arrived in Trinidad on Tuesday with a crew of over 800 medical professionals offering free surgeries, diagnostics, and specialist care to hundreds of citizens as part of the Continuing Promise 2025 humanitarian mission.
Lieutenant Commander Menninger explained the ship’s dual role in humanitarian and combat readiness.
“We’re able to take care of close to a thousand patients. So we have 80 beds on our ICU ward, and we have about 800-plus beds in our wards. Just like a normal hospital, we have ventilators, we’re able to transfuse blood. We have intensivists on board. We have providers that can care for critically ill patients, critical care nurses.”
As for the advanced imaging capabilities aboard the ship, “We have one CAT scan for radiology. We have four portable x-rays. So those portable x-rays, we’re able to move them anywhere on the ship. We’re able to take x-rays everywhere in the ICU, the PACU, the casualty receiving area.”
Another one of its medical staff explained the ship’s testing capabilities: “We can test things like electrolytes, so your sodium, your potassium. We can do HIVs, pregnancies, and hepatitis. We can also do cholesterol and stuff like that. We have our haematology bench. That’s where we test the red blood cells and your white blood cells.”
The vessel’s Intensive Care Units also have a unique setup: “We have four ICUs, you are currently standing in number one. In ICU four, we have an isolation room, and then we have eight wards where we can hold up to 800 patients. Up here, we hold about 80 on a good day. We have an O₂N₂ plant which makes our own oxygen, which these little silver towers around provide for our patients. If that O₂N₂ plant can’t make enough oxygen for us, we also have these O₂ tanks along the wall that we can hook up to the units and provide oxygen throughout. We also have our vital signs machines that are removable so we can bring them with the patients wherever we go on the ship.”
As it pertains to the ship’s pharmaceutical capabilities: “We have medications for pain, GI, gastrointestinal. From head to toe, if you can think about it, we have topical creams, ointments. We’re prepared for anything. That’s what it’s all about. It’s readiness, and we’re here to help. So if you can think of it, we got it. We have 116 medications on our formulary, and the med site, 116 different meds that providers can ask for, request for our patients.”
Lieutenant Commander Menninger said the 800-plus staff members have to be ready for any eventuality.
“So we do a humanitarian effort like the CP mission, but we also have to be ready for major combat operations, right? So if the call ever comes, we need to be well-trained. These mannequins are part of our training simulation lab. We do TCCC, which is a trauma combat casualty course that we provide for our nurses, corpsmen and doctors. And it just, it teaches them how to respond to, you know, a traumatic situation.”
In its sixteenth mission, the USNS Comfort personnel will conduct a three-day walk-in clinic, offering free medical services at the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain from Thursday.