Virginian Pilot – Ship prepares to take help, smiles to several nations

The hospital ship Comfort left Wednesday on the Navy’s latest humanitarian mission to Central America and the Caribbean. Over the next four months, the vessel will visit Antigua, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Panama. The rotating 850-member crew of doctors, nurses, medical technicians and others plan to spend two weeks in each country, performing operations and providing medical and dental care both on board and on shore. The cruise is part of a Navy mission called Continuing Promise, which is designed to partner with host countries on medical and engineering projects and build goodwill. The mission is the fourth such cruise to the region, following Comfort’s 2007 trip and those of the amphibious assault ships Boxer and Kearsarge in 2008.