From WEAR ABC3 in Pensacola, Florida. . . .
A second wave of sailors bound for Haiti deployed from Pensacola Naval Hospital Wednesday. The group will be providing care to quake victims on a state-of-the-art hospital ship called the U.S.N.S. Comfort. Lieutenant Junior Grade Lauren Hudson shouldn’t be on this trip. She has already deployed once this year, but for this special mission, she asked to be a part of it. Hudson is a 2007 graduate of Belmont University’s School of Nursing.
“I felt kind of an emotional connection to Haiti because I had been there before, and I really just wanted to do something to help.” In fact, a sense of purpose fills many of the 25 people loading a bus for Jacksonville. From there, they’ll meet up with 10 other Pensacola sailors on board the U.S.N.S. Comfort, a floating hospital tasked with caring for the earthquake survivors.
“It’s pretty amazing what it can do and how many people it can hold.” The 1,000-bed ship will carry more than 500 staff members, 35 of which will be from Pensacola. A team that commanders say includes many volunteers. “Our corpsmen are superior, bar-none, so we have a great team. And I look forward to the mission.” They’ll each have their own way of dealing with the devastation around them. “I don’t think you can ever be totally prepared for this. You just kind of got to stop yourself from over-thinking and stop, take a deep breath.”
The bus is loaded with 25 people heading over to Haiti, but that’s only a fourth of what’s deployed around the world from Naval Hospital Pensacola. A round of applause for the latest departing staff, and the hopes for a successful mission. The sailors were not given a definite timetable for a return home. We’re told it could take anywhere from one to six months.