USS Peleliu Completes Its Humanitarian Mission in the Western Pacific

The final team of nine HHS/USPHS Commissioned Corps officers deployed to the USS Peleliu to participate in the "Pacific Partnership" on September 7, 2007. Front row, left to right: LT Tracy Branch; LCDR Aimee Treffiletti; CAPT Kathleen Downs; and LT Nazmul Hassan. Back row, left to right: LCDR George Hanley; CAPT Michael Wilcox; CDR John Moroney; LCDR Stephen Piontkowski; and LCDR Edward Dieser.

September 25, 2007 – Earlier this month, the USS Peleliu concluded its 13-week humanitarian mission to countries in the Western Pacific region. The Peleliu delivered health care and public health interventions in six countries: the Republic of the Philippines, the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

A total of 16 officers in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) participated in three separate teams in this health diplomacy initiative. They conducted numerous medical, dental, public-health, and engineering programs, and contributed to a sustainable public health infrastructure in the countries visited.

The mission, called the "Pacific Partnership," brought together U.S. government and host-nation medical personnel and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide medical, dental, environmental health, construction and other programs to the six nations. Participating NGOs included Project Hope, the University of California San Diego Pre-Dental Society, and others in the locales visited by the Peleliu crew. The mission also benefited from the support of military medical personnel from Australia, Canada, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and New Zealand.

For more information:

• USS Peleliu Photo Gallery
• Pacific Partnership 2007, USS Peleliu (U.S. Navy)

Last revised: February 26, 2008