Nurses Join Military on Mission to 11 Countries to Provide Humanitarian Aid

Nurse volunteers with Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), a disaster relief project of National Nurses United and the California Nurses Foundation, will embark this week upon the USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), a Military Sealift Command ship, joining military personnel and health care professionals, engineers and environmental experts for a humanitarian mission that includes mission stops in 11 countries in South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

Introduced in 2007, Continuing Promise is a joint effort between the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, civilian mariners and a broad coalition of non-governmental organizations, including RNRN.

Between April and late September, groups of volunteers will perform hundreds of surgical procedures at no cost, treat thousands of patients, reinforce local infrastructure, and provide veterinary services in the 11 countries being served: Belize, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominica and Honduras.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be able to help someone and to see them walk away, knowing they are in a better position,” said RNRN volunteer Amy Bowen, an emergency room nurse from Lake Ozark, Mo. She is a member of the first group being deployed for five weeks.

The aim of the mission is twofold. The first is to help improve living conditions in the host countries by promoting best practices and bolstering capacity; the second is to strengthen U.S. relationships with partner nations in the region.

“It’s such a rewarding trip,” said Bowen, who has been deployed before with RNRN. “They show so much appreciation. I just want to help as much as I can.”

A multinational planning staff surveyed doctors, nurses, dentists and other local professionals in the host nations to develop a set of priorities on the ground.

RNRN, a project of National Nurses United, the nation's largest organization of RNs, was formed in 2004 in the aftermath of the South Asia tsunami, when the need for nurses was not being met by traditional disaster relief organizations. Since that time, RNRN has sent hundreds of direct-care nurse volunteers to assist following Hurricane Katrina, the massive earthquake in Haiti, and Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. RNRN previously participated in the Continuing Promise mission in 2010.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to support the RNRN disaster relief fund, go to http://nationalnursesunited.org/rnrn-disaster-relief-fund