<p>With this horrific tragedy in Haiti, I am wondering if my DS might have the opportunity to go there to help. He is currently on an MSC ship in San Diego, but is working to get on a Mercy Ship in April. With that, I am wondering: how many hospital ships does the Navy have? Will they send those in the Pacific to Haiti as well? Does anyone have any knowledge on this topic? Thanks for any insight.</p>
<p>Mercy Ships is not run by the USN, it is its own company, but they have many ships.
the USN has the USNS Mercy, and the USNS Comfort. with that, he might be able to get on one of them, but i don’t know what their schedule looks like right now, so i can’t tell you more.</p>
<p>Thanks for that clarification is2day. He is trying for the USNS Mercy I believe. My confusion lay in that I thought mercy ships were hospital ships. That being said, I will rephrase my question: does our Navy have just the two hospital ships? Will a Pacific coast based hospital ship be sent to Haiti or remain in case of other emergencies in that hemisphere? Also, how does the private-owned Mercy company operate? Who hires them? Where do they go? etc.</p>
<p>you can get more information on Mercy Ships here > [Mercy</a> Ships](<a href=“http://www.mercyships.org/content/home]Mercy”>Home - Mercy Ships)</p>
<p>Yes the Navy has just two hospital ships. It really depends on the extent of US Aid, but I doubt they will send more than one hospital ship to Haiti, especially if one is on the West Coast.</p>
<p>As for Mercy Ships, I know very few people who work for them. You don’t get paid to work onboard and therefore few people, especially in the Unions will bother with them. The only practical purpose they serve is as a resume booster and to get sea time. I hear (can’t confirm) that they won’t even pay to get you to the ship, which is a given with everyone else</p>
<p>Interesting…All good info - thank you.</p>
<p>Oliver heard that Capt. Flumignan at KP is working on getting cadets on the USNS Mercy.</p>
<p>Got my fingers crossed Oliver. Thanks for the tip.</p>
<p>Are any of our Mids on supply ships heading to Haiti?</p>
<p>USNS Comfort departed Baltimore for Haiti to assist in the relief efforts…</p>
<p>Everyone,</p>
<p>I received a blog notice about this thread and felt it important to address your discussion as it relates to Mercy Ships. Mercy Ships is a non-governmental global charity that utilizes hospital ships to deliver state of the art medical care to the forgotten poor. We currently have the Africa Mercy, our flagship, preparing for service in Togo with a Crew of 450 volunteers both medical and non-medical that pay their own way to give hope to those that had all but given up. Our Field Services consist of 10 months in country and it takes a considerable amount of time to find the right Crew, procure the right supplies (many of which are donated) to be able to affect the lives of the poor. Last year in Benin, we were able to impact well over 350,000 lives in 10 months. This is a group of people that found a very powerful way to share their blessings with the forgotten poor. If you wish to understand more about who we are go to our website… [Mercy</a> Ships](<a href=“http://www.mercyships.org%5DMercy”>http://www.mercyships.org) </p>
<ul>
<li>Sam Smith
CEO of Mercy Ships</li>
</ul>