USNS Comfort to leave Haiti Wed.

HAITI (WAVY) - U.S. Southern Command says the hospital ship USNS Comfort will leave Haiti Wednesday after providing much-needed medical services following the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated the country.

The Baltimore-based floating hospital, with more than 125 staff members from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth onboard, began supporting humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti after receiving its first patients a day before anchoring off the coast of Port-au-Prince on Jan. 20.

YNS Jerrod Sheppard, a graduate of Portsmouth's I.C. Norcom High School, is on of the NMC-Portsmouth sailors onboard the Comfort and vividly remembers the day the ship arrived.  "It was an eye opening experience for me," he told 10 On Your Side Tuesday.  "Once we arrived from the coastline, you could see some of the devastation."

Since the Comfort arrived on station, the ship's U.S military and civilian medical personnel treated 871 patients, receiving one patient every six to nine minutes at the height of the recovery effort.

Comfort's medical staff also performed 843 surgeries aboard the ship during the mission, treating more than 540 critically-injured earthquake survivors within the first 10 days.

The hospital ship ran 10 operating rooms at full capacity to care for injured Haitian and U.S. earthquake survivors requiring surgical care. Comfort's medics also treated U.S. and international military personnel transferred to the ship by physicians on the ground for surgical and non-surgical care.

"It's a lot of good things that have come out of these missions," said Sheppard, who volunteered for service on the Comfort, "mainly the willingness of the people to make the best of the situation and survive, as well as the sheer fact of having these people alive and, by coming over here and working around the clock, to help anyone and everyone that came aboard."

The military says the need for the Comfort's capabilities declined significantly during the final weeks of its mission as medical facilities and field hospitals in Haiti assumed a greater role addressing the nation's healthcare needs.

"Over the last 10 days, we've seen over a 65 percent reduction in patients on board the [Comfort] as they have been appropriately transferred to local hospitals for follow-on care," Col. Jennifer Menetrez, Joint Task Force-Haiti's surgeon said March 4. The last patient treated for earthquake-related injuries aboard Comfort was discharged from the hospital ship on Feb. 27, according to Menetrez.

"We are immensely proud of the contributions made by everyone who helped treat critically-injured earthquake survivors aboard Comfort," said U.S. Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, Commander of U.S. Southern Command. "Their efforts saved the lives of many patients and helped everyone treated begin the important process of recovery.

"Their rapid response and contribution to the international relief efforts in Haiti helped the country overcome an urgent medical crisis at a time when access to surgical care on the ground was very limited," he said.

Comfort is scheduled to return to its home port in Baltimore on March 14.