By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Tyler Jones

PACIFIC OCEAN – Only hours after arriving in the port city of Salaverry, Peru, medical staff attached to the hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) began humanitarian assistance operations in that country Aug. 6.

Several patients were flown aboard Comfort by the embarked Helicopter Sea Combat (HSC) Squadron 28 for ophthalmologic consultations with ophthalmologist Cmdr. Octavio Borges.

“A lot of patients come in with a diagnosis of cataracts, but it turns out to be something different, often glaucoma,” Borges said. “Glaucoma is misdiagnosed a lot, and sometimes we even find other problems like eye tumors or other ocular surface diseases.”

Borges added that patients’ ailments can often be treated with the use of corrective lenses, which the ship will make for patients according to their specific prescriptions. Other times, surgery is necessary.

“We can provide surgical services aboard Comfort, but in the case of glaucoma, we don’t always offer it because the patient might not have access to the necessary follow-up care after we leave,” Borges said. “If the patient can’t get that care, then the operation could lead to further complications.”

Borges, a graduate of the Brown-Dartmouth joint medical program, has served in the Navy for 11 years and volunteered to serve aboard Comfort for the ship’s humanitarian deployment.

“I was involved in a humanitarian operation in 2002 in Uganda, and it was a very fulfilling mission,” he said. “I really enjoy doing this kind of work and helping people, especially in this type of environment.”

Comfort is in Peru as part of its four-month humanitarian assistance operation, which will treat patients in a dozen countries across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The ship has already provided assistance in Belize, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Comfort is deployed as part of the U.S. Southern Command’s Partnership of the America’s initiative, a training and readiness deployment designed to strengthen regional ties and continue to promote friendship between the U.S. and its southern neighbors.