'Comfort' is on standby for Georgia aid
Hospital ship stays in Baltimore for now
WASHINGTON - With a $20 million, 24-nation aid effort under way for victims of the fighting in Georgia, the USNS Comfort, Baltimore's familiar white-hulled hospital ship, remains idle at its Canton pier, though on standby for possible deployment to the region.
The Pentagon sent a military team into war-ravaged Georgia yesterday to determine what supplies are needed and the most effective ways to deliver them. Two Air Force C-17 cargo planes have already carried basic loads of shelter, food and clothing.
The Comfort, with its 12 operating rooms and fully staffed 1,000-bed hospital, could provide badly needed medical services. The ship is also capable of producing large quantities of fresh water.
But Lt. Cmdr. Steven Pigman, an administrative officer on board the Comfort, said it would take five days to get under way. Most of that time is required to load food and medical stores and assemble its medical and support staff of 1,000 to 1,200 people.
There are other options.
The Pentagon is prepared to airlift mobile field hospitals to Georgia, which would be quicker than sending the Comfort, and the units could be deployed in rural parts of the country if needed, officials said. The Defense Department also has access to mobile water purification units that could be airlifted as well.
International aid officials have described a confusing situation in Georgia, with units of Russian troops roaming outside the contested enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and militias in unmarked uniforms on the streets. Russian troops invaded Aug. 7 after an escalating confrontation over the two disputed regions.
The United Nations refugee agency said one of its assessment teams was attacked yesterday by a paramilitary group, which hijacked their vehicle at gunpoint. The vehicle was later recovered and the U.N. officials were unhurt.
The Pentagon's operations in Georgia could put U.S. military personnel directly in contact with Russian forces. The teams will be authorized to act in self-defense but will not be "confrontational," officials said.
"I don't see any prospect for the use of military force by the United States in this situation," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters.
Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon has had "very good cooperation and dialogue" with Russians as it coordinated its incoming C-17 flights and arranged for an assessment team to work in Georgia.
The U.N., which is supervising the international relief effort, estimated that 115,000 people have fled the fighting over the past week. Aid agency officials said many have taken refuge in kindergartens and other public buildings where food, water, medicine and toilets are in short supply.
I know a ton of nurses that might be going on the comfort making things very tough on Bethesda! Our floor alone sent someone to Africa, one here (me), 2 to Cuba, and now 2 on the comfort possibly. We were already short staffed. Yikes. I hope they're all doing okay.
I also had a Brit as a patient the other day and he had an open fracture (meaning the bone was sticking through the skin) and he doesn't even flinch in pain. He stated it was a 2 out of a scale of 0-10!
Most American men will say their pain is an 8 out of 10 and request dilaudid for small infections!
They also don't have the cool accent, but that's besides the point. ;)
