On the recordFebruary 23, 2010
First, when it is not on one of its lifesaving missions, the USNS Comfort's home is in the Port of Baltimore. The virtual floating hospital has provided humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of patients all over the world. The Comfort was deployed after Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast, and has supported Operation Iraqi Freedom, and was activated on September 11, 2001, to provide meals, housing, medical, and psychological services to volunteer and relief workers at Ground Zero. It was once again called into service after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January that, at the most recent count, has claimed 150,000 lives. As the representative of the Port of Baltimore, I have always been especially proud of the Comfort and its critical missions. I felt especially privileged to have the chance to board the Comfort to send off the men and women the night before they departed for Haiti. It was a humbling experience to climb the steps aboard the Comfort and witness doctors and nurses training for what would help them on the shores of Haiti. I saw seamen practicing security drills, volunteers distributing blankets and pillows, and sterilizing medical equipment, and toured the operating rooms where so many lives would be saved by the military personnel of our U.S. Navy. Huge cranes were loading truckloads of medical supplies onto its deck. In what should have been chaos, I saw the focus and precision perhaps capable only by our United States military.
