thedrifter
05-03-07, 07:22 AM
Posted on: Thursday, 3 May 2007, 03:00 CDT
A Massive Floating Hospital at Port Everglades
By Robert Nolin, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
May 3--This is where the flip side of combat is experienced -- the sophisticated hospital bay on the transport ship USS Kearsarge, one of the largest afloat.
Here, some of the mayhem of war, the lacerations, fractures, burns and other bodily trauma, can be undone, or at least kept in check. "We are a meatball surgery-type facility," said Commander Eric Sherck, senior medical officer, who runs the outfit. "We do what needs to be done to prevent loss of life."
At 844 feet, the Kearsarge is the largest of six Navy ships and four Coast Guard cutters berthed at Port Everglades for Fleet Week. Though it can mount an amphibious assault of thousands of Marines, its unique feature is the 600-bed medical facility, which includes a large intensive care unit, five operating rooms, blood bank and trauma room.
"There are only two vessels in the world that have more medical capability than us," Sherck said. Those are the Comfort and Mercy, Merchant Marine ships staffed by Navy sailors.
Inside the ship's medical center, a level above the main deck, a soldier's wounds can be studied and stabilized before the combatant may be airlifted to a more comprehensive facility. X-rays can be e-mailed to experts in stateside hospitals.
"We can have a radiologist looking at it within a couple of minutes and we can talk to them in real time," said Sherck, 40, a Naval Academy graduate.
The facility's 14-bed intensive care unit is as large or larger than similar units in many community hospitals. "It's the same capacity you're going to find in any ICU in the country," Sherck said.
Commissioned in 1993, the Kearsarge has yet to handle a large influx of casualties. Though it has been deployed to the Middle East, the wounded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are treated in hospitals on land. But when it is deployed for war, the facility's staff of two doctors, an administrative officer and 18 corpsmen is more than doubled, including a surgeon.
"We've got a lot of corpsmen that are in and out of theaters of war," Sherck said. "They're taught their life-saving procedures."
The facility stays busy handling the common ailments of the ship's crew, which numbers 1,000.
One of those was Engineman Steve Karger, whose sprained ankle was being treated Wednesday by Petty Officer 1st Class Sean Lane, a hospital corpsman. "There's a lot of hazards on the ship and it's nice to know if you get injured you can get care quickly," Karger said.
Robert Nolin can be reached at rnolin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4525.
Online
Watch a report on the USS Kearsarge's medical capabilities at SouthFlorida.com/airseashow.
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Ellie
A Massive Floating Hospital at Port Everglades
By Robert Nolin, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
May 3--This is where the flip side of combat is experienced -- the sophisticated hospital bay on the transport ship USS Kearsarge, one of the largest afloat.
Here, some of the mayhem of war, the lacerations, fractures, burns and other bodily trauma, can be undone, or at least kept in check. "We are a meatball surgery-type facility," said Commander Eric Sherck, senior medical officer, who runs the outfit. "We do what needs to be done to prevent loss of life."
At 844 feet, the Kearsarge is the largest of six Navy ships and four Coast Guard cutters berthed at Port Everglades for Fleet Week. Though it can mount an amphibious assault of thousands of Marines, its unique feature is the 600-bed medical facility, which includes a large intensive care unit, five operating rooms, blood bank and trauma room.
"There are only two vessels in the world that have more medical capability than us," Sherck said. Those are the Comfort and Mercy, Merchant Marine ships staffed by Navy sailors.
Inside the ship's medical center, a level above the main deck, a soldier's wounds can be studied and stabilized before the combatant may be airlifted to a more comprehensive facility. X-rays can be e-mailed to experts in stateside hospitals.
"We can have a radiologist looking at it within a couple of minutes and we can talk to them in real time," said Sherck, 40, a Naval Academy graduate.
The facility's 14-bed intensive care unit is as large or larger than similar units in many community hospitals. "It's the same capacity you're going to find in any ICU in the country," Sherck said.
Commissioned in 1993, the Kearsarge has yet to handle a large influx of casualties. Though it has been deployed to the Middle East, the wounded from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are treated in hospitals on land. But when it is deployed for war, the facility's staff of two doctors, an administrative officer and 18 corpsmen is more than doubled, including a surgeon.
"We've got a lot of corpsmen that are in and out of theaters of war," Sherck said. "They're taught their life-saving procedures."
The facility stays busy handling the common ailments of the ship's crew, which numbers 1,000.
One of those was Engineman Steve Karger, whose sprained ankle was being treated Wednesday by Petty Officer 1st Class Sean Lane, a hospital corpsman. "There's a lot of hazards on the ship and it's nice to know if you get injured you can get care quickly," Karger said.
Robert Nolin can be reached at rnolin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4525.
Online
Watch a report on the USS Kearsarge's medical capabilities at SouthFlorida.com/airseashow.
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Ellie