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CAPT John Smith, a dentist, performs a dental procedure on a Vietnamese child at a Pacific Partnership dental civic action program.
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A multidisciplinary team of officers in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is serving on the USNS Mercy, a U.S. Navy hospital ship, for a humanitarian-assistance mission in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia. The ship departed on May 22, 2008, from its homeport of San Diego, CA. As part of its mission to provide quality medical assistance during the Pacific Partnership 2008, the USNS Mercy will sail for 148 days beginning in Guam, and proceeding to the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Timor Leste, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Commissioned Corps team officers deployed to the USNS Mercy include: dentists, dental hygienists, physicians, nurses, environmental health officers, environmental engineers, veterinarians, physician assistants, pharmacists, psychologists, and social workers. The team is led by the Corps officer in charge, CAPT Kevin Prohaska, who is with (FDA) The Food and Drug Administration.
Corps officers will coordinate medical, dental, veterinary, educational, preventive care, mental health, and engineering assistance in communities near where the ship docks as well as in remote communities with limited access to medical care. Officers have reported thousands of patient encounters in austere and remote locations.
The Corps officers are working with the U.S. Navy, Military Sealift Command, non-governmental organizations, as well as health care professionals from the uniformed services of foreign partner nations, the effort is being carried out with volunteers from several non-governmental organizations and partnerships with local medical professionals.
For this deployment, the USNS Mercy is being configured with special medical equipment and a robust medical team of uniformed and civilian health care providers to provide a range of services ashore as well as on board the ship. The San Diego home ported ship can support various services such as casualty reception, optometry, physical therapy, burn care, and radiological, laboratory, and dental services.
For more information about the USNS Mercy, Military Sealift Command, click here.
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