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HomeNewsLocal newsHurricane Medical Evacuees Return Home

Hurricane Medical Evacuees Return Home

 

Gov. Juna F. Luis Memorial Hospital. (File photo)
Gov. Juan F. Luis Memorial Hospital. (File photo)

Organizations serving hundreds of Virgin Islands medical evacuees say almost all of those patients have returned home. According to one source working with support services, the last group made it back home by Christmas Eve.

There is, however, no official word from officials at the Department of Health or VITEMA to substantiate those statements. Some of the comments made by service providers are backed up by lawmakers and a national non-profit group that released a report on hurricane recovery in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands several weeks ago.

According to one contracted provider working with evacuees in Atlanta, the return of most evacuees was evidenced by a lower demand for his work with them. Michael Thomas was chosen to oversee food service for displaced patients and caregivers.

“The evacuees were returned by Dec. 24, 99.9 percent of them. They just had one last patient that is there, that is getting finalized in treatment,” Thomas said.

Because kidney ailments requiring hemodialysis must receive constant treatment, emergency managers flew them to the U.S. mainland after Hurricanes Irma and Maria left the medical infrastructure at home badly damaged. Walker pointed out that other patients undergoing cancer treatments and other severe illnesses also were evacuated.

Walker and a team of Atlanta volunteers helped to link evacuees with housing, donated clothes and transportation. Thomas was brought in, in November 2017 after V.I. patients complained the meals they were receiving were inappropriate for their health status or simply unappetizing. At the height of the service, he said patients as a group received 500 meals a day.

“They’ve been getting three square meals, a roof over their heads and transportation. All their stuff paid for by the federal government,” he said.

But after returning from a site visit in March, St. Thomas-St. John Sen. Dwayne DeGraff said he was told by federal officials the effort was becoming too costly and evacuees would have to start going back home. Initial efforts were noted in a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation in September.

“As of late July 2018, all 49 hemodialysis patients who had been medically evacuated from St. Thomas have returned to the island,” the KFF report said. It also reported a smaller number – 21 – had returned to St. Croix.

A partial explanation pointed to the pace of recovery at the Schneider Regional Medical Center on St. Thomas and the Gov. Juan Luis Hospital on St. Croix. Progress in restoring treatment facilities moved slowly on St. Croix.

By the time FEMA declared a Nov. 30 cutoff for support service funding, modular kidney treatment units were not in place at JFL. The majority of St. Croix patients were receiving dialysis from a private physician, Walker said.

Sen. Kurt Vialet called it “completely unacceptable” for FEMA to cut off funding under the circumstances. Health Commissioner Michelle David thanked Vialet for stepping in to help.

That gave local officials four more weeks to complete the transition.

“Hospitals were not prepared and the modulars were not prepared. In the past six months there’s been a back and forth, trying to get the evacuees in place,” Thomas said.

As the evacuees return, staff and volunteers with the non-profit Community Action Now and Catholic Charities are working to resettle them and help them connect with support services back home. One of the most pressing demands has been to address damaged homes evacuees left behind, Walker said.

According to CAN director, Iffat Walker, those efforts are being made as part of a direction from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA said returning patients must return to suitable home environments and have access to continuing care.

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