USNS Comfort to stop in Norfolk Sat.

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - The Navy says the hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) is scheduled to stop at Naval Station Norfolk Saturday en route to its homeport in Baltimore. The ship is returning after completing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations off the coast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as part of the international mission, Operation Unified Response.

The Comfort, with more than 125 staff members from Naval Medical Center Portsmouth onboard, deployed to Haiti from the Port of Baltimore on Jan. 16 and began supporting humanitarian relief efforts before anchoring off the coast of Port-au-Prince Jan. 20.

Comfort'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, 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 American earthquake victims requiring surgical care. This deployment marks the first time the ship has reached full operational capacity, utilizing all operating rooms and beds, since it was delivered to the Navy in 1987.

Comfort is scheduled to return to Baltimore next week.

Comfort is crewed by 67 federally employed civilian mariners who operate and navigate the ship while military and civilian medical personnel operate the shipboard hospital. When not deployed, Comfort is kept pierside in Baltimore where a small crew of mariners and Navy medical personnel maintain the ship and hospital in a high state of readiness. When needed, Comfort can be ready to deploy in five days.