NORFOLK, Va. – Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) has served in many humanitarian missions around the world, its most recent being Operation Iraqi Freedom. The medical personnel on board were faced with treating patients from both sides of the war, including prisoners of war, civilians and American troops.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Tracy Lewis explained the challenge the situation placed on her. “The most challenging aspect of this deployment for me was treating our burn patients. Many of the cases we did were things I had never seen before and had no experience with. We had to take what we did know and do the best we could,” said Lewis, daughter of Richard and Patricia Lewis of Auburn.

As with any emergency room, Comfort treated patients according to a triage system, by order of urgency. Casualties were flown aboard around the clock and treated with by the fully functional hospital that includes 12 operating rooms, its own blood bank and space to care for 1,000 patients daily.

As a hospital corpsman, Lewis is a key asset to the ship’s mission and is trained to save lives under dangerous conditions.

“I am a surgical technician in the main operating room, where I assist the surgeons, We mostly did orthopedic, general and plastic surgery. I’m also a member of the burn team, which did multiple surgical cases for seven different burn patients who had 27 to 80 percent body surface area burns, including children and adults.

“The operating room as a whole did more than 500 multi-trauma cases in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, both coalition forces and Iraqi patients,” said Lewis, a 1998 graduate of Edward Little High School.

Working in such a fast-paced environment provides different experiences for sailors on board the vessel.

“One of the most significant experiences for me while serving on Comfort was working in the operating room. I got so much experience doing cases that I would otherwise probably never have had the opportunity to see. Also, since we did not have interns or residents out here, many of us got to step up and provide ‘first assist’ on quite a few cases.

“The experience I am walking away with is definitely a positive aspect of this deployment. At first, it was difficult to care for the Iraqis since we knew they were out there trying to hurt our troops, but as medical professionals, we have to give the best care we can to all our patients. I just tried to focus on the patient’s injuries and help to fix it instead of focusing on who the patient was,” said Lewis.

While under way, sailors often have time to reflect on what they miss about home and what they look forward to when they return. Lewis is looking forward to seeing her family and having a little privacy. She took for granted many of the small comforts of home, like walking around with no shoes on or taking a bath. It’s those little things she said she can’t wait to get back to.

Lewis was one of nearly 100 sailors assigned to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., who participated in the deployment, which focused on training new crewmembers in mass casualty drills, litter-bearer techniques and chemical, biological and radiological defense training.

The Comfort is one of two hospital ships operated by the Military Sealift Command designed to provide emergency, on-site care for U.S. combatant forces deployed in war or other operations.

Lewis is a 1998 graduate of Edward Little High School of Auburn.