USS Iwo Jima Completes Haiti Phase of Continuing Promise 2010

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jennifer Hunt, USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) Public Affairs

PORT DE PAIX, Haiti (NNS) -- USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) departed Haiti Aug. 3 after delivering humanitarian aid for the first phase of Continuing Promise 2010.

Service members, along with members of nongovernment organizations (NGO), provided medical assistance for local Haitians and renovated key structures in various communities.

A large portion of the mission relied heavily on both the ship and embarked medical staff. Two medical sites were arranged on shore and serviced 4,054 patients, while 34 patients came aboard Iwo for surgical care. The embarked veterinary staff also rendered a total 1,212 services.

"We did everything from providing primary and surgical care to preventative medical care and health education," said Capt. Michael Hopkins, Iwo Jima senior medical officer. "It's really about the small things that leave lasting effects. Just giving reading glasses to someone, removing cataracts and restoring the gift of sight, and also trying to improve their quality of life, that's why we were there."

Naval Construction Forces Seabees from Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit (CBMU) 202 of Norfolk helped to restore the Northwest Christian Mission building and Immaculate Conception Hospital. A total of 30 Seabees a day, with the help of various community relations project participants and Haitian workers, facilitated structural repairs, roof restorations, bathroom installations and constructed a pavilion over the hospital's outdoor washing area.

"The Mission serves roughly 250 orphans, so it's a huge impact to improve the sanitation within that facility. Building bathrooms right next to the operating room in the hospital allows them to clean and provide facilities for all of the patients," said Lt. j.g. Kelly Stevens, CBMU 202 officer-in-charge. "This is a different world for us, a different mission."

Three community relations projects (COMRELs), with a total of 103 service member volunteers, took place during the Haitian humanitarian assistance in addition to the medical and engineering portions of the mission. Volunteers visited each engineering site to help with beautification projects as well as boosting the morale of nearby locals. During the first COMREL, Lt. Cmdr. John Sears, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force (SPMAGTF) chaplain, and his volunteers even made balloon animals for children at the Northwest Christian Mission.

"There is so much work to be done," said Iwo Jima Chaplain Cmdr. Timothy Oswald. "We're helping them get something accomplished that would be difficult to complete themselves, but the larger benefit is the interaction with the community. The locals see something run down one day, and they come back the next to see it fixed and freshly painted. It really changes their outlook on everything, and they see that we're here to help. It's that human connection that really makes this worthwhile."

Iwo Jima was harbored in Port De Paix, Haiti, from July 24 to Aug. 3 and will continue on to Covenas, Colombia.

The assigned medical and engineering staff embarked aboard Iwo Jima will work with partner nation teams to provide medical, dental, veterinary and engineering assistance in eight nations.