Medical volunteers depart NAS Jax for hospital ship

As the excited group gathered at the base air terminal, several members spoke to the media before boarding a VRC-30 C-2A Greyhound for their flight to NS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and then to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Spokesperson for Project HOPE, Fred Gerber, talked a little about what the group does.

"We're a health capacity-building, international, non-governmental organization serving in 36 countries of the world. We started out 52 years ago on board the SS Hope, a donated World War II hospital ship - and now we are headed back to sea with the U.S. Navy. We've got 28 of the best doctors, nurses and technicians from all over America," said Gerber.

AWC(NAC) Dave Clark of VRC-30 passes out cranials to Project Hope volunteers shortly before they boarded a C-2A Greyhound aircraft headed to NS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and then Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The 28 volunteers will spend the next three weeks working on board USNS Comfort. Photo by Kaylee LaRocque

"We will be supporting the Navy on a 1,100-bed hospital ship. I think this is the first time the world has seen that many patients on board a floating hospital. I think the primary injuries of the Haiti people are resulting in amputations. We will be doing a lot of orthopedic surgeries," he stated.

Gerber continued, "This is the first wave of civilian volunteers on the ship, which is basically staffed with military medical personnel. With us volunteering, this allows some of those personnel to return to their normal jobs and families because they deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan so much already."

"The key to this operation is to get the injured on board, treat them and then send them out to a field hospital on land for further treatment so we can keep treating others. Nine nations have set up field hospitals in Haiti and other organizations are also providing medical care," said Gerber.

Project Hope Clinical Nurse Specialist Carma Erickson-Hurt, a retired Navy lieutenant commander, discusses what she will be doing while serving on board USNS Comfort for the next three weeks. The Navy flew 28 Project Hope volunteers out of NAS Jax Jan. 27 to help with relief operations in Haiti. Photo by Miriam S. Gallet

Local physician Jose Irazuzta, a University of Florida Medical School professor who practices at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, volunteered because he felt it was something he should do. "The greatest advantage of our group going is that we are all specially trained - and even though we all come from different places, we know how to work together as a team. Project HOPE has given us clear guidance on how to proceed to do the best job that we can. I imagine that it will be a challenging environment, but we have a very strong team," said Irazuzta.

"We are extremely privileged to be transported by the Navy and we are thankful to the Navy for the way they have received us," he added.

Also heading to USNS Comfort was Clinical Nurse Specialist and retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Carma Erickson-Hurt. "I helped out during the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia on board USNS Mercy and actually Project HOPE joined us there. This mission is going to be more gratifying than I think any of us can imagine - just the fact that we'll be helping the Comfort staff by augmenting them in addition to taking care of patients," she said.

After a short safety brief by the VRC-30 aircrew, the volunteers boarded the aircraft headed for Haiti to do their part helping the victims of the massive earthquake that hit the region Jan. 12.