Brooklyn native provides health care at sea with U.S. Navy
Petty Officer 1st Class Valdivio Reid of Brooklyn. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy
A 2001 Central High School in U.S. Virgin Islands graduate and Brooklyn native is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard U.S. Naval Hospital Ship Mercy.
Petty Officer 1st Class Valdivio Reid is a hospital corpsman assigned to the hospital ship, which is homeported in San Diego. Mercy provides emergency, onsite care for U.S. combatant forces deployed in war or other operations.
“As a leading petty officer in my department, I like the environment and the people I work with aboard the ship,” Reid said.
Capt. Peter Roberts, commanding officer, Medical Treatment Facility, said that while “Mercy has tremendous capabilities and capacity, the heart of the ship is her crew.
“They make her a truly incredible asset in worldwide medical response,” Roberts said. “From the core crew charged with keeping her always ready to the greater than 1,000 sailors that come aboard at a moment’s notice, they all bring an incredible passion and their own specific talent.”
Mercy has 12 fully equipped operating rooms, a 1,000-bed hospital facility, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan and two oxygen-producing plants. The ship is equipped with a helicopter deck, capable of landing large military helicopters and side ports that allow it to take on patients at sea.
Sailors assigned to Mercy also provide mobile surgical hospital services during humanitarian civic assistance operations. Sailors deploy to lend assistance as part of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts.
“I love the mission of the Mercy,” Reid said. “I was able to be a part of the last deployment. It is rewarding what we get to do for the other countries we visit.”
When Mercy is not at sea, sailors serve at military treatment facilities, where they provide patient-centered medical care for veterans, service members and their families.
“Serving in the Navy, for me, means continuing a tradition,” added Reid. “My aunt and uncle both served. It is not just for self, but for country. It is one of the most unselfish things you can do.”
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