WEBVTT

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- We're excited about the fact

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that we're wrapping up our final preparations

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to get underway here at about one o'clock this afternoon

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and have the opportunity to deliver

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a pretty unique medical capability

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that no navy in the world has the capability to do.

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That's where a guy like Captain Buckley, behind me,

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brings that medical capability.

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Any of the questions with specific medical capabilities,

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I'll let Captain Buckley answer those.

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My function will be to go down and

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help with the command and control coordination

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between the maritime component commander

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and the land component commander there.

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Basically, think of my role

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and the role of my staff

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is to keep everybody out of the way

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so that the medical professionals can do their jobs.

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I'm pretty good at that

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and they're really good at what they do.

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Then, subject to your questions,

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I would just turn it over to Captain Buckley

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to talk about capability.

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- [Man] Captain,

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seeing the ocean conditions and weather conditions

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between here and Puerto Rico,

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how long do you think it will take you?

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What do you expect (drowned out by noise)?

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- The conditions are pretty good right now.

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The seas laid, started laying down yesterday.

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We think that the transit will take,

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we should be on station by 3 October.

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If we have to slow down a little bit,

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4 October at the latest,

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but I'm pretty confident we'll be there by the third.

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- [Man] And you're going to San Juan?

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- We don't know where we're going yet.

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Those final mission analysis and coordination

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with the national-level agencies is ongoing.

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We'll get our orders en route

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and wherever we go, what,

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the great part about what Comfort brings to the fight

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is the ability to move anywhere

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that they ask us to go.

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- [Woman] Can you talk to us about challenges

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because of the devastation of Matthew Island?

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Is that gonna be a challenge for you guys?

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I know the FEMA administrator had said

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getting to port was kind of a challenge for you guys

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to even get underway (drowned out by noise).

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- Again, that's part of

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the mission analysis that's still going on.

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As you can imagine,

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with the level of destruction that occurs

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from a Cat 5 hurricane, or Cat 4,

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or whatever it was when it made shore,

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we're very cautious about how we bring a large ship in.

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Those surveys are still ongoing.

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We're working with our Coast Guard counterparts

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that are down in the area to get that assessment.

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We are flexible.

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The medical capability that the ship can deliver

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can be done underway,

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it can be done in port,

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or it can be done at anchor.

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Between the helicopter capability that we have,

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the boats that we have,

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all of those things together give us the ability

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to be flexible in our mission

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and still contribute with very little,

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with very little interruptions in that process.

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- [Man] Is there gonna be an issue with going inland?

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Once you're there, the infrastructure damage.

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Is that a challenge?

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I suppose you'll be using helicopters a lot

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to get (drowned out by noise)?

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- I mean,

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the part about that for us is,

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if we go pier side, then there's that challenge of,

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things are gonna have to move by truck.

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The assessments that are coming out of there

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are mostly what I hear on the news, as well, and that is,

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there are some areas that we're starting to do it.

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There are issues with or challenges with

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fuel distribution and things like that.

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We're flexible enough to do that, and what we,

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one of the capabilities that we have is,

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should we have to go out and restock or something like that,

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we could leave port for a very short period of time,

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go out there and meet underway replenishment

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with our other Combat Logistics Force ships

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and be able to do those resupplies.

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Again, that goes to the flexibility

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and the uniqueness of Comfort going into an area like that.

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- [Woman] Do you have any idea how long you'll be gone?

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- I know that my orders are a minimum of 30 days.

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Again, those are decisions

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that are made much above our level.

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What we'll do is, we'll go out there

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and hit the ground running

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or hit the deck plates running, as we say in the Navy,

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and we'll keep moving until somebody tells us

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that we're no longer needed.

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- [Man] Is 30 days pretty similar

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to previous missions for the Comfort?

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- I don't know enough about that, to be honest with you.

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I think with,

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when you look at the US response that's going in,

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now that things are starting to get mobilized

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and we're able to make the assessments that we make,

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my initial cut is,

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30 days seems to be about right for this mission.

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- [Man] When was the last time Comfort deployed?

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- Continuing Promise in 2015.

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- Two years ago.

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- They went to, I think, 13 countries, approximately,

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and saw 122,000 people.

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- [Woman] Any reason why, now,

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it's being deployed to Puerto Rico?

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You guys didn't go to Texas or Florida,

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so any specifics for this, why you guys are heading out?

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- Those are decisions that are national-level decisions.

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Decisions made well above my pay grade.

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I can only say that we've received the order to go

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and it's time to go.

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What decisions were made at the national level,

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I'm not privy to that

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and I wouldn't feel comfortable trying to

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answer why decision makers made those decisions.

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- [Man] Captain, how do you feel about the fact

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that there was a petition drive

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to really send the Comfort

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that started several days ago?

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What do you think you would say about that?

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- Again, I'm a simple sailor from Chicago.

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My job is to, when somebody tells me to go, I go.

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All of the rest of it is, frankly, irrelevant to me.

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We have a mission to go deliver a capability

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and get involved in an operation to reduce human suffering

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in an area that has been devastated by weather

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over the last five to six weeks.

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That's all I'm focused on and that's all

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that my medical professionals

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that I'm going with are focused on.

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- [Man] What is it like gearing up to get ready,

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once you get the word go?

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Just getting a ship like this

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(drowned out by noise)?

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- That's a great question.

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To understand that, you have to understand

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how the ship is designed in a non-operational status.

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This ship is normally maintained

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in what we call a Reserve Operating Status 5,

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which means they can get the order

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and be ready to go in five days.

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Now, that's from the civilian mariner standpoint,

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and then the uniqueness about Comfort is that

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we can tailor those medical packages

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that Captain Buckley can talk about

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a little bit more in-depth here.

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Typically, that's a five-day or plus process,

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depending on the size of that package.

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We started posturing as we saw weather coming in.

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We were leaning forward,

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in the event that we were asked to go.

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Especially as Irma was approaching the United States.

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We made some of those preparations,

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decisions that were made within the Navy, to do that.

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Here's what's really unique, 48 hours ago,

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there were less than 100 people on board this ship.

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That's civilian mariners

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and medical treatment facility personnel at the same time.

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Over the last 36 hours,

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we have flown medical professionals in

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for that tailored medical package,

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along with their support personnel

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from all over the country,

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and the number of people

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that are on board right now are over 800.

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Think of the logistics that's required

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and the capability that's required to move

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over 700 young men and women

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and good Americans to come on board

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and drop what they're doing

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to go and deliver that capability.

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I couldn't be more proud of how Military Sealift Command

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and how the medical community have responded,

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and to walk aboard the ship or talk to those sailors

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who are all ready to go,

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that's what keeps you coming back to work every day.

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Y'all probably want to talk to the other guy,

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so I can get out of the way

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unless there's any more specific questions for me.

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- [Woman] For the cameras, will you state

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your first and last name again, and your rank?

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- Yes, my name is Captain Kevin Robinson.

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I'm the commodore of Military Sealift Command Atlantic

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and the task force commander,

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and on board here, I am the forward command element

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for Comfort to fall in on

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the other military commanders that are in the area.

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Yeah, that's fine.

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You got 'em?

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We good?

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You're taking my wallet too?

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- [Woman] (laughs) Yeah.

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- [Captain Buckley] You're a pickpocket, too.

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- Like whoa.

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(mumbles) you, it's crowded.

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- [Woman] I know your button is kind of...

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That'll work, perfect, yes.

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- Good morning.

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I'm Captain Kevin Buckley.

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I'm an emergency medicine physician

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with a subspecialty in pediatric emergency medicine.

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I am the Commanding Officer of the hospital,

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or what you call the MTF, Military Treatment Facility,

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on the Comfort.

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Captain did a good job of giving you some of the overviews.

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I can give you a general spiel of what we can do

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or you can ask me questions, what would you prefer?

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- [Man] Captain, can you compare your capabilities

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with the most advanced hospital

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that's in Puerto Rico right now, that's operating?

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- I can't speak to what's available currently in Puerto Rico

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but I can tell you what we can do, if that's okay.

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We have the capabilities of any hospital

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that you have in this country.

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We have full, a bunch of specialists.

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I have a full, I have a CAT scanner, angio suite,

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and I have dialysis capabilities.

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The only thing we don't have on board is an MRI,

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because if you know MRIs,

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they don't do very well with metal,

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and you can see, there is a lot of metal there

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that would probably interfere with that.

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We don't have an MRI, but we do have

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a new, capable CT scanner, ultrasound.

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We can run up to 11 ORs,

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but we're only gonna be loaded for six.

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The ship is built, the primary mission is for combat.

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Combat support.

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The combat support mission is

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a little different package than humanitarian.

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In combat, we don't bring OBGYN doctors

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and pediatricians and neonatologists.

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In this tailored package,

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we have more community health, more primary care.

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I have a 50-bed ER capability on board the ship.

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I have the ability to store about 250 people

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and we'll have up to 50 ICU beds.

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If you, the potential of the hospital ship,

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actually, if it's bayed for combat, would probably be

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one of the largest trauma centers in the United States.

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If you Google it, it'd be number seven.

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Because it has up to 1,000-bed capability.

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We're not packed to 1,000 bed

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because again, our mission is not trauma for combat.

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It's more for humanitarian assistance.

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We have the capability to,

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the MSC command who runs the hull part of the ship,

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it's been a great partnership with them,

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and logistically, we can run for six months for combat

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without being resupplied for medical supplies.

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Food, we would need that for humanitarian

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because of the nature of the short notice

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and the flexibility,

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we don't know what we're gonna face yet.

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We load for about 30 days of supplies.

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- [Man] Do you have any medics aboard

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(drowned out by noise) Puerto Rico?

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- I actually have, I have Navy sailors from Puerto Rico,

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including my (mumbles)

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who was supposed to go on vacation next week,

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to see his family in Puerto Rico,

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and they're fine, by the way.

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They're on the east, western part of the,

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sorry, eastern part of island, but they're okay.

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It took them a week to get ahold of them, but they're okay.

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There are also a number of sailors that have come on my crew

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so it's like a nest egg.

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I usually have about 58 sailors that sit here

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and maintain the shop.

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It's not in mothballs.

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If you know anything about equipment,

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you have to keep things running.

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All my lab equipment capabilities,

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CT scanners, radiology machines,

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require to be used or at least turned on.

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You can't leave 'em off for a month

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and come back and expect them to work.

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You guys all know technology, it's a bit fickle.

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I have that crew, then I have a critical core

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that comes on board,

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which is sourced from different, 18 NTFs around the country.

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Majority comes from Portsmouth, which is local.

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That's 241 more people.

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That doesn't bring you a capability for medical support,

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but it's like a framework or a bone structure

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for the hospital to get ready to take patients.

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Then, the FOS tailored package,

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which we brought on board,

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over 529 people were tasked with the mission

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less than 36 hours ago, some as late as last night,

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and they're here this morning to help support us.

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As a doc, coming aboard the ship and seeing the capability,

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it's really impactful and emotional, what we can deliver.

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Thanks to the partnership with MSC command in the hull

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and Navy Medicine East, and even medicine in general

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(mumbles) leading forward,

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I don't think you guys understand.

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No civilian agency can bring this capability in 24 hours

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to be able to go on a ship and go anywhere in the world,

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anytime, anywhere, and because of our capabilities,

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any deep port, we have two transports

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that you may see on a regular cruise line

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that can bring patients up, as well.

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Up to 40 patients at a time.

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Most cruise lines just bring things down,

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but to bring the load up,

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to do that is a great capability as well.

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We can bring them from the pier side, from small boats,

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if we can't get up, further up into an area,

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or by the large deck and actually moving closer.

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Pier side does have some limitations,

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but we can be flexible and do almost anything.

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- [Woman] When you get there,

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do you have a number that you are thinking about,

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whether it's (drowned out by noise) when you get there?

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- When we're fully full to bore,

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we can process about 200 people per day,

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depending on our supply list.

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For combat would be six months.

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Indefinitely, for that period of time.

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We don't know what we're gonna be tasked with.

15:13.900 --> 15:15.487
We don't know what the medical ask is.

15:15.487 --> 15:16.864
That's from higher up.

15:16.864 --> 15:18.337
National authorities are working with FEMA

15:18.337 --> 15:19.930
to decide where the best use of us,

15:19.930 --> 15:22.097
because we don't have the,

15:22.269 --> 15:24.198
I'm just a captain, I'm on this level.

15:24.198 --> 15:26.017
My job is to be ready to go with our team

15:26.017 --> 15:28.172
and get whatever we can, to be as flexible

15:28.172 --> 15:30.819
or as Semper Gumby as you want to be,

15:30.819 --> 15:32.319
to be on the site.

15:32.489 --> 15:34.666
But those areas will have to be determined,

15:34.666 --> 15:35.857
what our best impact will be.

15:35.857 --> 15:38.492
There is a great, already a Navy asset,

15:38.492 --> 15:40.144
a military medicine asset on land,

15:40.144 --> 15:42.700
so we're gonna plus up with them,

15:42.700 --> 15:44.557
and the captain, the commodore,

15:44.557 --> 15:46.766
will actually give us, he's over there now,

15:46.766 --> 15:49.516
will give us the guidance, wherever we're gonna go.

15:49.516 --> 15:51.337
Wherever he says we're going,

15:51.337 --> 15:53.674
my team is ready to support and provide care.

15:53.674 --> 15:55.170
- [Man] Do you have a sense of

15:55.170 --> 15:58.194
what types of aid might be in demand?

15:58.194 --> 15:59.996
For instance, in an earthquake,

15:59.996 --> 16:03.020
you may (drowned out by noise).

16:03.020 --> 16:04.799
With hurricanes, is there generally

16:04.799 --> 16:06.851
something that you're expecting to see more of

16:06.851 --> 16:07.856
or are you just--

16:07.856 --> 16:09.357
- We use a model base, computer model base

16:09.357 --> 16:10.988
that actually can tell you

16:10.988 --> 16:12.461
what kind of economy you're dealing with.

16:12.461 --> 16:15.275
Emergency economy, a well-developed nation type thing,

16:15.275 --> 16:18.529
and timelines, so depending on when you get,

16:18.529 --> 16:20.234
and what kind of disaster,

16:20.234 --> 16:21.514
so whether it is a focal, local disaster,

16:21.514 --> 16:24.597
an earthquake knocks a building down,

16:24.839 --> 16:26.699
or you may have a wider spread,

16:26.699 --> 16:29.465
so that you can then put in these questions

16:29.465 --> 16:31.483
or input into the data and get an input.

16:31.483 --> 16:34.213
Normally, the first few days of an incident like this

16:34.213 --> 16:36.158
would be more trauma-related incidents.

16:36.158 --> 16:38.382
Things falling down, things being blown over

16:38.382 --> 16:40.605
or hit by debris that are hitting.

16:40.605 --> 16:42.718
As we further move out, there's more medical things,

16:42.718 --> 16:45.458
so as you lose some of the civilization type things,

16:45.458 --> 16:47.697
running water, proper sanitation,

16:47.697 --> 16:51.071
things like dysentery or cholera can also be on,

16:51.071 --> 16:53.624
so usually around day 14 through on,

16:53.624 --> 16:55.120
you'll start getting more medical issues,

16:55.120 --> 16:57.098
or medical patients who haven't seen their doctor

16:57.098 --> 16:58.644
and haven't got their medications refilled

16:58.644 --> 17:00.353
may have problems that may be

17:00.353 --> 17:02.926
due to their individual disease.

17:02.926 --> 17:06.209
Again, trauma up front, and then as you go further out,

17:06.209 --> 17:07.613
it's more medical based.

17:07.613 --> 17:08.869
- [Woman] You mentioned that--

17:08.869 --> 17:10.043
- I'm sorry, she had a question next.

17:10.043 --> 17:11.497
- [Woman] You mentioned that you can do

17:11.497 --> 17:13.149
anything a hospital can do, so if somebody needing--

17:13.149 --> 17:13.982
- Nearly.

17:14.152 --> 17:15.372
- [Woman] So if somebody need surgery--

17:15.372 --> 17:16.205
- Yes.

17:16.452 --> 17:17.779
- [Woman] Are there things that you can't do,

17:17.779 --> 17:18.910
and then, in that case, what happens then?

17:18.910 --> 17:21.556
- There are certain surgeries we just wouldn't want to do.

17:21.556 --> 17:23.232
We wouldn't want to do any joint replacement

17:23.232 --> 17:25.009
because that's a long follow-on.

17:25.009 --> 17:27.283
Someone has a broken bone or needs a washout, yes.

17:27.283 --> 17:29.615
One of the differences between this ship

17:29.615 --> 17:32.014
and some of the other medical capabilities, the LADH,

17:32.014 --> 17:33.774
they can do damage control surgery

17:33.774 --> 17:36.045
and major surgeries to stop them,

17:36.045 --> 17:37.868
but they don't have the follow-on holding capability,

17:37.868 --> 17:40.672
so we have a patient that has a contaminated wound

17:40.672 --> 17:42.292
that may have to go back to the OR

17:42.292 --> 17:43.836
five or six times over a week,

17:43.836 --> 17:45.598
we can keep the person on board and do that,

17:45.598 --> 17:48.515
and do all of that, to the surgery.

17:48.692 --> 17:49.816
- [Woman] What about the pharmacy?

17:49.816 --> 17:51.517
There's a whole pharmacy at sea, right?

17:51.517 --> 17:55.600
- We have a pharmacy based on what we call AMALs,

17:55.641 --> 17:57.549
which are packages that are pre-based packages,

17:57.549 --> 17:58.842
based on what we think.

17:58.842 --> 18:01.474
We don't keep anything on the ship, for the most part,

18:01.474 --> 18:03.553
until we get an order where to go,

18:03.553 --> 18:05.866
because we want to tailor our mission what we need,

18:05.866 --> 18:07.509
and we get support from embassy,

18:07.509 --> 18:10.025
from our civilian contractors, from Portsmouth,

18:10.025 --> 18:11.915
and we've actually called commands

18:11.915 --> 18:13.293
up and down the Eastern Coast,

18:13.293 --> 18:15.834
if we have something we can get to pull.

18:15.834 --> 18:17.415
All that's been loaded on.

18:17.415 --> 18:20.293
98 pallets of food by my guys during a storm.

18:20.293 --> 18:23.028
Winds, the winds the last couple days here,

18:23.028 --> 18:24.508
because of the hurricane have been in there,

18:24.508 --> 18:25.820
have made it very challenging.

18:25.820 --> 18:28.127
It's been a heroic effort, a teamwork effort,

18:28.127 --> 18:30.535
to provide a capability that, as the commodore said,

18:30.535 --> 18:32.952
very few in the world can do.

18:32.991 --> 18:34.682
- [Woman] So you will pick those medics up?

18:34.682 --> 18:36.120
- We have them on board now.

18:36.120 --> 18:38.560
We loaded them over the last two days.

18:38.560 --> 18:40.678
That's why we have the ROS-5 status.

18:40.678 --> 18:43.421
It takes, you have to get your mission

18:43.421 --> 18:45.229
and then task what you need,

18:45.229 --> 18:46.732
and it takes a, it does take a few hours to do that.

18:46.732 --> 18:49.296
- [Woman] Can you give us a sense of how much medication,

18:49.296 --> 18:51.572
how many supplies (drowned out by noise)?

18:51.572 --> 18:53.068
- I have enough for 30 days.

18:53.068 --> 18:54.745
- [Woman] Enough for 30 days?

18:54.745 --> 18:56.191
And can it be extended beyond 30 days?

18:56.191 --> 18:57.858
- One of the things,

18:58.075 --> 19:00.232
as we get more information from higher authorities,

19:00.232 --> 19:02.230
as I said, we don't know what the full ask is.

19:02.230 --> 19:03.542
We have to be very broad.

19:03.542 --> 19:05.628
If we get, we need to do more,

19:05.628 --> 19:07.107
say, dialysis, or more so and so,

19:07.107 --> 19:08.980
we have the ability to say,

19:08.980 --> 19:10.488
order off from the ship and order ahead,

19:10.488 --> 19:12.516
and have redelivery so we can do the underway replenishment.

19:12.516 --> 19:15.654
We have those already scheduled for food,

19:15.654 --> 19:17.634
but we can add other things on there,

19:17.634 --> 19:19.450
or we also have a (mumbles) on board,

19:19.450 --> 19:21.253
and if we know where we can preposition the supplies,

19:21.253 --> 19:23.085
then fly them out to the ship.

19:23.085 --> 19:24.673
- [Woman] You said there are over 800 people on board.

19:24.673 --> 19:26.091
Can you give us a breakdown

19:26.091 --> 19:27.655
of how many doctors, how many nurses?

19:27.655 --> 19:30.124
- I have over 300 of our finest Navy corpsmen,

19:30.124 --> 19:32.671
and those break down into specialists and techs,

19:32.671 --> 19:33.942
so we have lab techs, X-ray techs,

19:33.942 --> 19:35.252
pharmacy techs, physical therapy techs,

19:35.252 --> 19:39.419
and then I have approximately 140 medical type officers,

19:40.364 --> 19:43.694
so that's doctors, nurses, embassy officers,

19:43.694 --> 19:46.059
which is not different than the embassy line command,

19:46.059 --> 19:49.257
but there's a support medical service corps,

19:49.257 --> 19:52.224
so those include your pharmacists, your physical therapists,

19:52.224 --> 19:55.369
you may have, also we have nurse practitioners and PAs,

19:55.369 --> 19:56.935
and I have a number of,

19:56.935 --> 19:59.852
I have at least, I have 45 doctors.

20:00.109 --> 20:02.771
They don't count me anymore, unfortunately, in that list,

20:02.771 --> 20:03.688
but I have,

20:04.476 --> 20:06.758
and my executive officer is also internal medicine.

20:06.758 --> 20:08.763
So we actually have two additional doctors

20:08.763 --> 20:10.310
that don't count on the list

20:10.310 --> 20:11.823
because we're in a position

20:11.823 --> 20:13.338
that we're set for, for CO and XO.

20:13.338 --> 20:15.262
- [Woman] Obviously, the (drowned out by noise)

20:15.262 --> 20:16.702
is critical, especially in a time like this.

20:16.702 --> 20:19.704
Do you anticipate any challenges that you could foresee now,

20:19.704 --> 20:21.608
maybe like a language barrier?

20:21.608 --> 20:23.879
What are some of the challenges you're preparing for now?

20:23.879 --> 20:25.248
- I have a number of people on board the ship

20:25.248 --> 20:26.792
that speak Spanish, if we have that issue.

20:26.792 --> 20:29.767
I've been doing this for a while and I've had,

20:29.767 --> 20:31.836
a lot of my mentors have always told me,

20:31.836 --> 20:33.593
"If you get to do a humanitarian mission,

20:33.593 --> 20:34.768
"it's usually the highlight of your career,"

20:34.768 --> 20:37.806
and one of the joys is being a skipper and an admiral.

20:37.806 --> 20:39.676
Admiral Swap, who is Nav Med East admiral,

20:39.676 --> 20:41.966
and the source for most of our, almost all,

20:41.966 --> 20:43.786
actually, all of our medical capability

20:43.786 --> 20:45.743
was on board last night and this morning,

20:45.743 --> 20:48.135
and walking around, normally, you get deployment,

20:48.135 --> 20:49.651
there's always people like, "Oh, I can't go,"

20:49.651 --> 20:50.982
for this reason or that reason.

20:50.982 --> 20:55.149
The energy, the smiles that, the enthusiasm to help

20:55.604 --> 20:58.361
is really rewarding to see as a commanding officer.

20:58.361 --> 21:00.664
It's really heart-touching to see that.

21:00.664 --> 21:02.733
I'm very proud of our sailors.

21:02.733 --> 21:04.767
I couldn't be more proud.

21:04.767 --> 21:06.854
It's almost like, "Put me in, Coach.

21:06.854 --> 21:08.329
"I can help, I'm ready to play."

21:08.329 --> 21:10.438
They really have that enthusiasm.

21:10.438 --> 21:12.202
Getting on board last night,

21:12.202 --> 21:13.817
it just takes time to process that many people

21:13.817 --> 21:16.108
across that little brow (mumbles) berthing,

21:16.108 --> 21:18.427
and not one person was complaining.

21:18.427 --> 21:20.598
Everyone's smiling, happy, and just happy to be aboard.

21:20.598 --> 21:23.284
It's really an infectious type thing.

21:23.284 --> 21:25.339
They're really eager to help

21:25.339 --> 21:27.678
and we'll do our best, whatever the commodore has us do,

21:27.678 --> 21:29.853
and the higher authorities tell us to do,

21:29.853 --> 21:31.349
we're standing by to assist.

21:31.349 --> 21:34.476
- [Woman] Comfort responded after Katrina

21:34.476 --> 21:37.150
(drowned out by noise)--

21:37.150 --> 21:38.368
- September 11th, as well.

21:38.368 --> 21:39.581
- [Woman] September 11th.

21:39.581 --> 21:43.664
How does this particular crisis compare to those?

21:43.683 --> 21:45.090
- Each crisis is different.

21:45.090 --> 21:48.815
September 11th had a focal point, where it was gone.

21:48.815 --> 21:50.802
The natural disasters, it's always

21:50.802 --> 21:52.359
a little more challenging working with the states

21:52.359 --> 21:53.760
because you always have to work with states.

21:53.760 --> 21:57.090
Those different states' governments and FEMA

21:57.090 --> 21:58.710
actually will drive a lot of that,

21:58.710 --> 22:00.133
and a lot of the stuff's way above that.

22:00.133 --> 22:01.596
We're just more of,

22:01.596 --> 22:03.498
"Tell us what you want and we'll support what you need."

22:03.498 --> 22:07.050
Many of the states, though, actually have inland resources,

22:07.050 --> 22:08.971
so it's sometimes easier to move inland

22:08.971 --> 22:10.812
than to have to go out to sea,

22:10.812 --> 22:12.228
so depending on what kind of nation it is,

22:12.228 --> 22:13.882
or nature of the event,

22:13.882 --> 22:16.049
we have to, we're more in,

22:16.067 --> 22:18.036
"Tell us what you need and we'll support."

22:18.036 --> 22:20.053
- [Woman] And those 30 days begin once you make landfall

22:20.053 --> 22:22.341
(drowned out by noise) you're not counting the five days

22:22.341 --> 22:23.908
it takes to get there?

22:23.908 --> 22:25.002
- The supplies for 30 days

22:25.002 --> 22:26.369
is what we need to do medical care.

22:26.369 --> 22:29.811
When we start medical care, we will need food resupply.

22:29.811 --> 22:32.632
We have enough food for about 21 days for 900 people.

22:32.632 --> 22:34.691
- [Man] You mentioned the morale

22:34.691 --> 22:36.343
and the energy was really high.

22:36.343 --> 22:38.598
Are there any challenges since (drowned out by noise)

22:38.598 --> 22:41.958
throwing all these people together at once, and procedures,

22:41.958 --> 22:44.279
maybe someone does something differently than someone else,

22:44.279 --> 22:45.967
and they kind of have to work things out?

22:45.967 --> 22:47.790
Or is that, does that go really go smoothly?

22:47.790 --> 22:49.089
- No, we're, it goes, actually, it's amazingly,

22:49.089 --> 22:51.085
the teamwork approach is really a pretty good,

22:51.085 --> 22:52.724
most of us, we're all active duty,

22:52.724 --> 22:54.187
so we've all worked in different,

22:54.187 --> 22:55.546
we were all plug and play, if you will.

22:55.546 --> 22:57.844
I've been in, deployed down range to Iraq,

22:57.844 --> 23:01.356
or as an ERSS team, lead to different areas,

23:01.356 --> 23:04.828
and there are general training pipelines that people have,

23:04.828 --> 23:07.006
so a lot of it is (mumbles).

23:07.006 --> 23:08.558
People always have their certain preferences,

23:08.558 --> 23:10.301
like, "I like this type of retractor," if I'm a surgeon.

23:10.301 --> 23:11.758
And surgeons always have

23:11.758 --> 23:13.492
their own little personal things they like,

23:13.492 --> 23:14.850
but I'm an ER doc, so there's always

23:14.850 --> 23:17.880
a little battle between the ER doc and surgeons.

23:17.880 --> 23:21.671
- [Woman] How many people, medical staff, are on the ship?

23:21.671 --> 23:24.421
- There are at least 71 mariners.

23:24.534 --> 23:26.273
May have a little more plus up for that,

23:26.273 --> 23:27.547
that actually run the hull.

23:27.547 --> 23:29.256
Then, the medical side, I have over 800 right now.

23:29.256 --> 23:31.532
But that's, includes my support staff,

23:31.532 --> 23:35.301
so not just medical, I have a large non-medical component.

23:35.301 --> 23:37.178
Somebody has to feed people.

23:37.178 --> 23:39.190
We have the galley that can provide

23:39.190 --> 23:42.017
up to 8,500 meals a day, if properly stored.

23:42.017 --> 23:43.486
We don't need that much right now

23:43.486 --> 23:45.028
because we only have 900 people on board, times three,

23:45.028 --> 23:47.272
so at least 3,000 meals a day, we'll be cookin'.

23:47.272 --> 23:49.272
I need staff to do that,

23:49.414 --> 23:51.488
and then we have logistic supply orders,

23:51.488 --> 23:53.895
so I have barns of warehouses on here I can put stuff in,

23:53.895 --> 23:56.449
and a whole bunch of people, civilians and military,

23:56.449 --> 23:59.476
that work together to make sure we have what we need.

23:59.476 --> 24:03.309
It's over, right now, over 800 military staff,

24:03.620 --> 24:06.453
and then the 71 civilian mariners.

24:07.845 --> 24:10.026
- [Man] I'm sorry, I know you said this already.

24:10.026 --> 24:11.720
I do apologize (drowned out by noise).

24:11.720 --> 24:14.328
But is your ship good with dialysis?

24:14.328 --> 24:16.019
Because I remember watching a report,

24:16.019 --> 24:17.586
and they had said a mom was without dialysis for days.

24:17.586 --> 24:19.141
- Correct, the ship has capability for dialysis.

24:19.141 --> 24:21.553
Like I said, it can provide nearly anything

24:21.553 --> 24:24.659
any medical hospital tertiary care facility

24:24.659 --> 24:26.654
in the states can provide, except MRI

24:26.654 --> 24:28.673
and usually some of the neurosurgical procedures,

24:28.673 --> 24:30.496
if you staff it right.

24:30.496 --> 24:33.118
We always have dialysis machines.

24:33.118 --> 24:34.637
We've actually plussed up

24:34.637 --> 24:36.553
from Portsmouth with two other ones,

24:36.553 --> 24:38.608
and we actually have nephrology on board

24:38.608 --> 24:40.983
and dialysis techs to support.

24:40.983 --> 24:42.658
- [Woman] You have 250 beds (drowned out by noise)?

24:42.658 --> 24:44.170
- The beds are, you have to look at that, it's,

24:44.170 --> 24:47.587
250 beds is a breakdown because you have,

24:47.652 --> 24:50.307
of that, 50 beds are in the ICU.

24:50.307 --> 24:53.525
Those 250 beds are varying level of care.

24:53.525 --> 24:55.775
- If I could ask everybody,

24:55.937 --> 24:57.884
obviously, they have to get underway in 90 minutes,

24:57.884 --> 24:59.495
so we're gonna go last question.

24:59.495 --> 25:01.328
Whoever can get it in.

25:01.516 --> 25:02.738
- [Man] In terms of,

25:02.738 --> 25:04.018
once you bring victims on board,

25:04.018 --> 25:06.882
and they're (mumbles) in ICU for them,

25:06.882 --> 25:08.521
how does the handoff work?

25:08.521 --> 25:10.428
Where do they, do they end up back in Puerto Rico?

25:10.428 --> 25:12.173
Do you take them to the states?

25:12.173 --> 25:13.218
Does it matter?

25:13.218 --> 25:14.384
- Depends what their condition is,

25:14.384 --> 25:16.545
and there's also people that have come from other islands,

25:16.545 --> 25:18.070
from the previous storms, that are maybe there too.

25:18.070 --> 25:19.839
If they're a foreign national,

25:19.839 --> 25:21.983
we would work with the embassy and state department

25:21.983 --> 25:23.600
to get them back to their host country.

25:23.600 --> 25:25.886
Puerto Rico actually is a US territory,

25:25.886 --> 25:27.367
so a lot of it depends on,

25:27.367 --> 25:28.999
do they have other assets or resources anywhere else

25:28.999 --> 25:31.422
or is Puerto Rico ready to take--