VOA常速英语2007-US Navy Hospital Ship Treats 98,000 on Latin Ame

By Al Pessin
Aboard USNS Comfort
11 October 2007

One of the U.S. Navy's two huge hospital ships, USNS Comfort, has just finished a four-month mission to 12 Latin American countries, during which it provided free health care to 98,000 people. VOA's Al Pessin visited the ship, along with U.S. Defense¹ Secretary Robert Gates, on the last day of its mission last week, off the coast of Suriname.

"Welcome aboard everyone," said Lieutenant² Commander Tracey Kunkel. "Good afternoon."

After a 20-minute helicopter ride over the Atlantic, the huge white-painted ship with large red crosses on the side came into view. Inside, Lieutenant Commander Tracey Kunkel welcomed Secretary Gates, his counterpart from Suriname and other officials to the ship's main operating room.

"Welcome to the O.R.," said Commander Kunkel. "We are actually in the centerline of the ship, so fore³ and aft, starboard and port we're centerline. So the place on the ship where there's the least roll has been the O.R., which is very convenient. It came in handy on this trip."

The stable operating room 'came in handy' during more than 1,100 surgical⁴ procedures the ship's doctors performed on this mission.

During Secretary Gates' visit to the Comfort, several patients were still on the ship, in their final hours of post operative recovery.

Suriname's Minister of Defense Ivan Fernald chatted with one girl about how she was feeling.

Later, Minister Fernald spoke⁵ about the ship's mission.

"The doctors, nurses and health care professionals from the Comfort have done a very good job," he said. "I hope that we can look forward to other humanitarian⁶ assistance programs similar to that of the Comfort."

In addition to the on-board surgery, other doctors, dentists and nurses provided other types of care on the ship, and at local clinics on shore. The ship's military and civilian⁷ crew also took care of farm animals, trained local health care workers and repaired medical equipment.

 

"Especially, for a non-medical person like myself, it was pretty amazing experience," said Captain Robert Kapcio. "I could probably tell stories for three or four hours."

That is Captain Robert Kapcio, commander of the Comfort's mission to Latin America.

"We had a 13-year-old boy come in who had cataracts⁸ in both his eyes, and basically blind," he said. "He walked off the ship being able to see. The parents were all in tears. They hug you. They're just overwhelmed because you've changed their kid's life."

The captain says for some people, the veterinary services were just as important as the human health care. He remembers one farmer in Ecuador who was more concerned about getting treatment for sick horse than for his daughter.

"His kind of concept was, 'If you don't save my horse, I can't afford to buy another one and everyone in my family is going to starve to death anyway, so save my horse,'" said Captain Kapcio.

Captain Kapcio says the Comfort's mission clearly had an impact on the people it encountered in Central and South America, and it also had a less obvious impact on members of the ship's own crew.

"While we were changing lives, I think many people's lives on the ship have been changed," he said. "And, it gave me some insights into other things that are out there to do if I retire. So maybe when I get out of the military instead of going to work for a contractor⁹ and doing defense contracts, I could definitely see myself doing some of that volunteerism."

The Comfort, and its identical sister ship in the Pacific, the Mercy, are frequently used to help provide aid after natural disasters, like the Asian tsunami¹⁰ and Hurricane Katrina. But in between disasters, they do humanitarian missions like this one, which Secretary Gates told the crew benefit both the host countries and United States.

"You've made a huge impact everyplace you've gone, helped an awful lot of people in a lot of different ways," said Secretary Gates. "And you've created a lot of good will for our country. So thank you very much for your service."

But answering a reporter's question, the secretary said the mission was not specifically aimed at countering the influence of the leftist regimes in Cuba and Venezuela, which also provide medical aid to Suriname and other countries in the region.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

3 fore   

adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部

参考例句：

• Your seat is in the fore part of the aircraft.你的座位在飞机的前部。
• I have the gift of fore knowledge.我能够未卜先知。

4 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

7 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

8 cataracts   

n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 )；白内障

参考例句：

• The rotor cataracts water over the top of the machines. 回转轮将水从机器顶上注入。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Cataracts of rain flooded the streets. 倾盆大雨弄得街道淹水。 来自辞典例句

9 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

10 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。