As well-wishes for the recovery of Jamaica from the ravages of Hurricane Melissa rise in voices throughout the Caribbean, international teams have set emergency response in motion. And among the initial efforts came a tiny team from the U.S. Virgin Islands willing to lend a hand.
Speaking to the Source from Florida on Monday, Chris Watson told the story of how he and Jose Trotman made their way onto the stricken island in the hours after Hurricane Melissa — with winds of 185 mph — tore through Montego Bay and Jamaica’s western end.
In his daily life, Watson works with a St. Thomas-based medical ambulance company. He described conditions on the ground in the stricken areas as “ten times worse” than depicted in media reports.
As of Nov. 2 — four days after the storm had passed — the BBC was reporting Jamaica’s death toll at 38. The immediate task upon arrival, he said, was saving lives.
“We went to Jamaica; we were working alongside the Jamaica Defense Force. We were staging out of Montego Sangster Airport,” Watson said. “We were effectively given a helicopter — a Bell 407 — which is set up for passenger carrying operations.”
Together, the hosts and their guests retrofitted the chopper using spare parts. “We retrofitted this thing with what equipment we could find and turned it into a fully-functioning helicopter air ambulance. We then were tasked with going to different hospitals in the disaster area and evacuating medical patients from those hospitals to a higher level of care.”
The rescue crew shifted into continuous motion over the course of five days, he said, sleeping when they could in storm-damaged airport buildings in Montego Bay. A few days into the effort, safety concerns made further evacuations doubtful, and available supplies ran out toward the end.
With help from Jack Brewer — a U.S.-based supporter — Watson and Trotman boarded a flight to Ft. Lauderdale to catch some breath and process the experience. When asked how many missions they flew in the converted rescue chopper, Watson couldn’t say.
“I don’t know, I can’t remember, I don’t even know what day it is now,” he said. “I think we spent five days on the ground … We helped some people; some hadn’t made it despite best efforts, but we got a critical care paramedic — flight paramedic — on our team and they’re doing these things.”
Trotman has since headed back home with praise from his teammate. Watson held out hope that with additional support, the medevac missions may soon resume.
