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The Navy Sent A Floating Hospital To Puerto Rico, But Few Can Get Onto It
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Oct 17, 2017
Modified Oct 17, 2017
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Oct 17, 2017
Modified Oct 17, 2017
Share
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Puerto Rico continues to suffer nearly a month after Hurricane Maria, with 85 percent of the island still lacking electricity. Cellphone service and clean water is still limited throughout the territory, and hospitals have had a particularly hard time coping with limited resources and an influx of patients. In response, the federal government sent down the USNS Comfort, the Navy's East Coast hospital ship, which has 250 beds. Unfortunately, people in need don't seem to be able to get onboard.
CNN reports that two weeks into the Comfort's arrival in Puerto Rico, only 33 of its beds are being used. Puerto Rico's governor, Ricardo Rosselló, blamed the empty beds on communication problems between the island's Department of Health, which decides which patients get onboard, and the ship's personnel. "The disconnect or the apparent disconnect was in the communications flow," he said. "I asked for a complete revision of that so that we can now start sending more patients over there."
Doctors on the island say they don't know how to get their patients on the Comfort. One 18-year-old patient, Sammy Rolon, needs surgery for his cerebral palsy, but his doctors have no idea how to transfer him to the floating hospital. "It's very frustrating," Rolon's doctor, Jorge Rosado, told CNN. "I know they have the capacity; they have the medical staff; they have the supplies. ... To hear there's only 33 patients in such a big mobile hospital -- it's tough."
There have at least been some patients on the Comfort—on Saturday, one patient gave birth onboard to a baby girl. "I never thought that our special moment would happen here on this ship," the baby's father, Francisco Llull Vera, said in a statement Sunday. "Everyone has been so helpful and gentle while caring for our baby. I hope this opens the door for those who still need help to seek out the Comfort."
Meanwhile, critics have continued to speak out against the federal government's response to storm recovery. Recently, Congress pledged $4 billion to help Puerto Rico bounce back from the hurricane, despite experts estimating the island sustained at least $90 billion in damages. President Donald Trump has repeatedly mentioned how much the storm is costing the U.S. government, and recently threatened to pull federal relief workers from the island if Congress chose not to appropriate enough funds.
"This is not the time to be talking about withdrawing the help,” Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico's non-voting representative in Congress, and a Trump supporter, told Politico. "This is not the time to talk about how much it’s costing the U.S., because we are American citizens."
So far, officials have reported 48 deaths as a result of Hurricane Maria, but the real toll is expected to be much, much higher. Some family members of recently deceased Puerto Ricans say their loved ones' deaths were hastened by the catastrophe, but not included in the official count. Bronx resident and paramedic Joe Conzo Jr., whose mother, Lorraine Montenegro, died shortly after the storm, is convinced her death was hurricane-related.
"As a medical professional, I started going through my mental Rolodex of what could have happened," Conzo told the Times. "She wasn’t a sickly person. But when we learned she had gone in for shortness of breath, that indicated her body was shutting down. Can we say the hurricane killed her? I don’t know. But I do know that living under the conditions they had on the island for days takes a toll on even a healthy person."
There are still a number of ways Americans on the mainland can support Puerto Ricans, including by donating to the Hispanic Federation UNIDOS Disaster Relief Fund, or by attending next Thursday's fundraising event hosted by Radio Ambulante, NPR’s only Spanish Language podcast—the $40 storytelling event at the Murmrr Theatre on Eastern Parkway will benefit ongoing relief efforts in Puerto Rico.
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hurricane maria
puerto rico
usns comfort
Rebecca Fishbein
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