A Navy Hospital Ship Sits in Puerto Rico Mostly Empty While Hospitals Go Without






A floating state-of-the-art hospital is anchored off the coast of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, but those in need are struggling to board the ship.

The Navy hospital ship Comfort has 250 beds for patients on the island shut out by clinics without supplies and other facilities lacking electricity.
But only 33 of those beds — about 13% — have been filled in the two weeks since the ship arrived, CNN reported.

“I know we have the capacity,” the Comfort’s mission commander and Capt. Kevin Robinson told the news station. “I know that we have the capability to help. What the situation on the ground is . . . that’s not in my lane to make a decision.” Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello told CNN the problem is rooted in “the communication flow” between doctors and the territory’s Department of Health, which is tasked with referring patients to the ship. Hospitals said they were unaware what standards patients need to meet in order to board the medical facility.

“I asked for a complete revision of that so that we can start sending more patients over there,” Rossello said.

The hospital ship was deployed as part of the federal response to Hurricane Maria, which left the 3.4 million American citizens on the U.S. territory without power. Residents also face water and food shortages as well as ongoing health risks. Almost a month after the hurricane made landfall as a Category 4 storm, 86% of Puerto Rico is still without electricity and nearly 30% of residents do not have access to drinking water. Most cell towers and antennas are also still down.

The hospital did welcome one new patient Saturday — a baby girl who was born on the ship.
“I never thought that our special moment would happen here on this ship,” Sara’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.” 

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 A floating hospital could help desperate patients in Puerto Rico, but nobody knows how to get there.

Clinics on the island have been overwhelmed with patients since Hurricane Maria made landfall there, but patients and staff say they’re not sure how to start sending sick people over. The ship, the USNS Comfort, is sitting right offshore with just 13 percent of its 250 beds in use nearly two weeks after it arrived.

The Comfort was deployed to Puerto Rico as a part of the US federal response to the storm, which devastated the island and left hospitals vulnerable to power outages, limited water supplies, and food shortages.

The Puerto Rico Department of Health gets to decide which patients can get care aboard the Comfort, but referrals have been minimal so far.

Ricardo RossellĂ³, the governor of the island, told CNN that the issue was not because of a lack of infrastructure, or physical means of getting patients to the ship.

“The disconnect or the apparent disconnect was in the communications flow,” Mr. RossellĂ³ said. “I asked for a complete revision of that so that we can now start sending more patients over there.”

For doctors and care providers working in clinics and hospitals running on generators, speeding up the process could mean life or death for patients. While the official death toll has crept up to 48 so far, reports from the island indicate that people have been dying in hospitals as doctors run out of medication or fuel from generators, leaving people who rely on oxygen, or dialysis, at risk.

As of Sunday, 85 percent of the island still lacked power.

Captain Kevin Robinson, the mission commander aboard the Comfort, told CNN that help is waiting for those in need. The ship has 250 beds, and just 33 of them are in use.

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“I know that we have the capacity. I know that we have the capacity to help. What the situation on the ground is… that’s not in my lane to make a decision,” Mr. Robinson said. “Every time we’ve been tasked by [Puerto Rico’s] medical operation center to respond or bring a patient on, we have responded.”

"The military and every department in the Federal government have only one head over others, one commander, one channel of orders coming from the very top. Particularly the military, trained to go by the rules of engagement or operation. They need precise orders and they need the authorization of money to take on tasks that they have not been financially preauthorized.  You can't order the navy to go and help someone without making it possible for those orders to be enforced. You can't also say do it today and tomorrow you say something contradicting.
You know who the commander is. He was elected by our Electoral college system, which still stays as the law of the land and it will remain so as long as we have one political party controlling everything that comes down from Washington DC and wants to keep the status quo on the system that gave them a victory the last time around."   Adam Gonzalez 

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