Get up to speed about the USNS Mercy Hospital Ship right here over at Telstar Logistics. Right now, this ship is sitting around in San Francisco as part of a $10,000,000 routine refit from BAE Sytems that got started a week ago.
The Mercy’s sister ship USNS Comfort is in Haitian waters currently with a crew of 1200(!) performing operations, delivering babies, the works.
So, will the Mercy head on out soon?
A massive former oil tanker:
As she looks this dreary afternoon at San Francisco’s Pier 70:
Some are calling for the Mercy to ship out to Haiti right now:
“Yes, I know about the tyranny of distance from San Diego to Port-au-Prince. According to distances.com, it would be a 5,281 mile voyage taking some 11 days.
Yes, I know the MERCY is presently at a shipyard in San Francisco through the beginning of March.
Yes, I know that it is manpower intensive. Call-up reservists and guardsmen. You know how to reach me. (I would make a great blogger/social media guru aboard MERCY).
Have Project Hope recruit more volunteers! Recruit personnel from across the inter-agency. Get our coalition partners involved. Hire contractors.
Yes, I know it would require a backfill in the Pacific.
Yes, I know it is expensive. Hold another tele-a-thon.
Yes, it would require lots of supplies.”
People around town are looking into this, so we’ll find out soon enough.
Leaving you with a scene from the Comfort from last week:
100119-N-4995K-187 ATLANTIC OCEAN (Jan. 19, 2010) Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Adam Buzzeo prepares medical equipment during the assessment of a six-year-old Haitian boy brought aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20). The boy, who was Comfort’s first patient as part of Operation Unified Response, suffered an injury to his bladder and a hip fracture during an earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan 12. The boy is in the intensive care unit aboard Comfort in stable condition. Comfort is supporting Operation Unified Response, a joint operation providing humanitarian assistance to Haiti. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Chelsea Kennedy/Released)
