Doctors from the Dominican Republic were invited aboard USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) and given the opportunity work with the Continuing Promise (CP) 2008 medical staff during several surgeries. Eliecer Cruz Alvarez, Dominican Republic National Police general surgeon and Heliodoro Andres Salas Cablera, Dominican Republic Navy anesthesiologist, are the first Dominican doctors invited to come aboard a U.S. Navy ship to perform operations during the CP 2008 humanitarian/civic assistance mission.
The Dominican doctors assisted with five hernia operations. They also got the opportunity to work with a Brazilian Navy surgeon, a volunteer surgeon from the non-governmental organization Project Hope and U.S. Navy doctors, nurses and hospital corpsmen. Alvarez said: “The surgical team aboard has a great capacity for being able to help the people of the Dominican Republic, and I would like to thank everyone who has participated in helping my country.”
CP is a collaborative effort between the United States and partner militaries, non-governmental organizations and partner-nation support organizations to build strong partnerships that can be called upon in the event of a regional situation requiring cooperative solutions.
Kearsarge’s mission is to conduct civil-military operations including humanitarian and civic assistance as well as veterinary, medical, dental and civil engineering support to six partner nations and to send a strong message of United States compassion, support and commitment to Central and South America and the Caribbean.
