HHS Commissioned Corps Officers Join Operation Continuing Promise Aboard the USS Boxer in Central America

	May 13, 2008 – CDR Izune Hwang, a family-practice physician from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluates patients at Escuela El Higueral, in the Republic of Guatemala, as part of Operation Continuing Promise, the deployment of the USS Boxer to the west coast of Central America. The small community, the economy of which revolves around sugar cane, has not had access to a health-care provider in over 10 years.
	May 13, 2008 – CDR Kimberly Elenberg, a nurse officer assigned to the Office of Force Readiness and Deployment within the Office of the Surgeon General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, teaches the importance of basic public-health measures, ranging from hand-washing, oral health, maternal and child health to sanitation practices, to over 300 community members in Escuintla, in the Republic of Guatemala. This training, conducted at the Escuela Santa Isabel, is part of Operation Continuing Promise, the deployment of the USS Boxer to the west coast of Central America.
	May 13, 2008 – LCDR Paul DeWitt, an optometrist stationed at Gallup, New Mexico, with the Indian Health Service within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, assesses a pediatric patient at the Escuela Santa Isabel in Escuintla, in the Republic of Guatemala, as part of the deployment of the USS Boxer to Central America. On this particular day, the optometry team from the Boxer saw 124 patients, and gave out 97 pairs of glasses at the site.

May 13, 2008 – Commissioned officers of the U.S. Public Health Service within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are participating in the mission of the USS Boxer to the west coast of Central America.  The deployment of the Boxer, called Operation Continuing Promise, started in the Republic of Guatemala, where HHS health-care professionals joined their colleagues from the U.S. Department of Defense and non-governmental organizations, including Project Hope, to attend to the communities around the municipality of Escuintla.

In Escuintla, the Boxer team has turned the Escuela Santa Isabel into a primary-care facility.  Hundreds of patients have stood in line for care, some having traveled over four hours by foot.  The Boxer team set up a dental clinic, an optometry clinic, a primary-care center and an educational area, all of which featured HHS officers.  Including dental and optometry, the clinic is seeing approximately 600 patients a day.  The most-common medical conditions include upper respiratory infections and chronic diseases.  The number of prescriptions filled at the pharmacy set up by the Boxer team went from approximately 500 the first two days in Escuintla to over 1000 per day the next two days.  The number of pairs of eyeglasses distributed by the optometrists has concurrently increased, from 50 to 100, while referrals of cataract patients to the Boxer's on-board surgery team have remained constant at approximately three to five per day.  HHS dental professionals applied fluoride varnish to approximately 150 patients, as well as applied sealants and performed prophylaxis, restorations and extractions.

The Boxer's environmental-health team conducted 12 different assessments around Escuintla.  They visited a community well, two different dumps, as well as an industrial-waste dump at the mouth of a local river.

The Boxer veterinary team returned to the same dairy farms through the period, and provided services to 238 cattle, most of which included deworming and vaccinations.  They also saw some stunted calves, and were able to give Vitamin A and selenium to them.  At the farms, the team provided safety and sanitation information to the farmers, as well as to animal technicians and veterinary students.  The Boxer's education team taught 80 midwifes basic cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, and conducted classes on hand-washing, universal precautions and neonatal resuscitation.  They also taught dental health for approximately 300 people.

Last revised: May 15, 2008