As you heard in the interview, medical services will also be provided including treatment and surgeries. Screening for surgeries was done for over 100 patients at the KHMH today and as early as tomorrow morning these patients will be taken on the USNS COMFORT for their procedures. Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon Captain William Todd told us about the process behind getting these patients ready for these medical procedures.
Captain William Todd, Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon
"The ship is very unique, there are actually two of them and we call them National Treasures. They are converted oil tankers and they are nearly a thousand feet long and over a hundred feet wide. They are both identical and the one that we have on this coast is the USNS Comfort. It is staffed up, so we have twelve operating rooms. When the ship is at a maximum capacity for patients, we can take up to a thousand patients if we are configured for staffing for that. We're screening here for patients, approximately a hundred patients will be pre-screened here and then we'll take them out to the ship and we'll perform the surgeries out on the ship. Each of the patients will be coming out with an escort the night before they get customized to the ship, relax a little bit and then we'll start the surgeries in the morning. They'll stay on board to see up the necessary time depending upon what their procedures are and then we'll be discharged back."
20 hospital beds will also be donated to the KHMH. If you are not on the list to be treated or undergo surgery on the ship, medical sites will be set up at the Hattieville Government School and Independence High School to provide outpatient medical, dental and preventive medicine. On Monday you can visit the Independence High School from 9 in the morning to 3 pm and on Wednesday in Bullet Tree Falls Village in San Ignacio from 1 in the afternoon to 3.
The Navy team will travel to 10 other countries after its operation is complete in Belize. The next stop is Guatemala.
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