USNS Mercy delivering medical care, humanitarian assistance to Pacific islands
FORUM Staff
The United States Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy is bringing doctors, dentists and other medical experts, as well as engineers and disaster response personnel, to the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau and the Solomon Islands.
The deployment kicks off Pacific Partnership 2024, which began when USNS Mercy left its home port in San Diego, California, in October 2023 — even as the previous iteration continued in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific islands.
The U.S.-led multinational mission is the Indo-Pacific’s largest annual humanitarian assistance and disaster preparedness undertaking. USNS Mercy’s contribution will include delivering care aboard the ship and ashore.
The hospital ship has 12 operating rooms, four radiology suites, a 90-bed intensive care unit and 1,000 patient beds, with one ward dedicated to pediatric patients. A focus on women’s health during Pacific Partnership 2024 brings obstetricians and other specialists to the mission, Capt. Jeffrey Feinberg, Mercy’s commanding officer, told U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) News. Surgeons — among nearly 600 medical personnel onboard — can provide obstetric procedures and treat conditions that could be fatal otherwise, Feinberg said.
USNS Mercy’s doctors will also provide cataract surgeries and bring glasses to Pacific communities without opticians. “We can restore some vision,” Feinberg said. “I know that we brought a lot of glasses.”
Pacific Partnership engineering projects will include school, clinic and hospital renovations, and assessing and fortifying bridges. Experts will partner with local communities on civic projects, health exchanges, medical symposiums and disaster response training.
Advance mission teams are in the Solomon Islands to prepare for medical contingencies ahead of the Pacific Games from November 19 to December 2. Medical professionals aboard USNS Mercy will provide services to 24 countries — with 5,000 athletes and thousands of spectators expected — converging on Honiara for the events, the Solomon Islands’ Sunday Isles newspaper reported.
The U.S. is partnering with Australia, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and the United Kingdom for Pacific Partnership 24. The mission also aims to bolster relationships among Allies and Partners, and strengthen disaster preparation and response capabilities, U.S. Navy Capt. Brian Quin, the mission commander, told USNI News.
USNS Mercy personnel treated 15,353 patients and performed 372 surgeries in Palau, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Vietnam during the previous Pacific Partnership. They also supported construction projects and provided training in those countries and Fiji. In the Philippines, for instance, U.S. Navy medical technicians demonstrated how to repair dental chairs.
“It made a significant difference for the dental health and the overall health of that population,” Quin said. “It’s about relationships and trust and interoperability.”
USNS Mercy was commissioned in 1986 and began its first training and humanitarian mission to the Philippines and the South Pacific in 1987. The floating hospital has supported Pacific Partnership since 2006, participated in the Rim of the Pacific exercise and deployed to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
“When Mercy shows up — a big white ship with a giant red cross — everybody knows why,” Quin told USNI News. “Mercy is here to help, and not just help with direct care, but help in ways that have lasting impacts on the host nations. It’s why they invite us back.”
