Jamaican Serving on US Hospital Ship Pleased to Give Back to Country

Corporal Philip Henry, one of three Jamaican-born personnel working on the United States navy hospital ship, Comfort, said he is pleased to be giving back to the country of his birth.

The ship, which docked at the Kingston Container Terminal on Monday, May 4, with a team of medical personnel on board, is providing free medical and dental services to Jamaicans, as part of a goodwill mission to the Caribbean and Latin America.  The ship will be in the island for 14 days.

Corporal Henry, who informed that he was part of the advance team in charge of “coordinating activities on the ground,” told JIS News that he feels proud to be coming back to the island, which he left as a child, to contribute in a way that will make a difference in the lives of many of his countrymen.

“It feels great. In my capacity of giving back to the country where I was born, there’s no price tag on that,” said Corporal Henry.

He told JIS News that he is enjoying his time in the island. “I don’t want to leave,” he laughed.

While in Jamaica, the ship’s medical team expects to see several hundred people per day at the two medical outreach sites at the National Arena Complex and the Maxfield Park Health Centre.

Members of the public can visit either site from as early as 8:30 am each day, including weekends, to take advantage of the services offered by the medical team, which includes optometry, dentistry, general medicine, women’s health, paediatrics, and pharmacy.

The team of doctors will also conduct professional medical exchanges with their Jamaican counterparts, and engage in community outreach projects at schools across the island, including repair works.

“We have school supplies for quite a few of the schools, medical supplies, construction supplies.  So, all of these supplies will be going out to parts of Kingston and St. Catherine,” Corporal Henry informed.

The medical team includes noted neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is also Chief Medical Correspondent for Cable News Network (CNN), and he will be filing reports from the region for CNN.