Opinion: How my small hospital in rural Puerto Rico survived Hurricane Maria
When Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, I wasn’t sure how well my hospital, Castañer General Hospital, would survive the howling, 150-mph winds that lasted for 15 hours or the 25 inches of rain that inundated the region.
When the winds eased and it was safe to go outside, what I saw was utter destruction: shattered houses, tangles of fallen trees and electrical lines, rivers pouring over their banks, landslides, blocked roads, and more. The region, characterized by the greenery of its mountains, was now mostly brown. There was absolutely no communication with other parts of Puerto Rico or the outside world. We were in the dark.
My 75-year-old hospital is in the small town of Castañer, in the district of Lares, whose 30,000 residents live nestled in the mountains of west-central Puerto Rico. The hospital also serves the small towns of Adjuntas, Yauco, Maricao, and Las Marías.
The hospital wasn’t too badly damaged. Nearly 2
