This week had to have been one of the most amazing opportunities and experiences in my time with the St. Luke’s Biomed Program. We had the opportunity to tour the USNS Comfort. The Comfort is an 894-foot Mercy-class hospital ship of the United States Navy. This ship has a total patient capacity of 1000 beds. This includes 80 beds in the intensive care wards, 20 beds in the recovery wards, 280 beds in the intermediate care wards, 120 beds in the light care wards, 500 beds in the limited care wards, as well as 12 operating rooms. This ship is an entirely functional hospital on and off the grid. Some of its main facilities include radiological services, a blood bank, a pharmacy, burn care, dental services, an optometry/lens lab, and a morgue.
On our tour, we were taken along with crew members through the ship on track with the general flow of how patients would go. The boat was empty with the exception of workers who were making repairs while it was in the dry dock. We were able to see most of the facilities listed above, but it is difficult to remember all that we saw. We have yet to get the pictures back from our designated photographer because they need to be cleared by the Navy before we have access to them. My favorite part, however, I do remember. One of the crew members who was with us on our tour was the head biomedical technician of the boat. His job is to repair and maintain all of the equipment on the boat. We made a stop in his workshop and I had to be the coolest room on the boat. It was lined with toolboxes and tools and broken-down medical equipment. They also had a couple of TVs and couches. I was able to talk with him quite a bit over the course of the tour and he gave me lots of insight on what a biomedical technician does. This has really opened my eyes to the field of biomedical engineering and I can say with confidence that I am a huge fan. I can’t say that I would like to do it on a boat, but this field will definitely go into consideration when it comes time to pick.
Lastly, I used this opportunity to ask as many questions as I possibly could because I know that this opportunity or an opportunity like this is very rare. At the end of the tour one of the officers that was with us pulled me aside and gave me a USNS challenge coin for asking the most questions.
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