Health

FEMA Assessment Of JFL Completed; It Will Determine Whether New Hospital Will Be Built

ST. CROIX -- Juan F. Luis Hospital CEO Wanda Ruben said during a board meeting on Thursday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had completed its assessment of the hospital, and has moved on to assessing the Schneider Regional Medical Center. But whether the assessment would result in a completely new structure, or instead funding to facilitate repairs, had not been determined, according to Jim Craig of Mississippi's State Department of Health, who is on island helping JFL. Mr. Craig said FEMA has assembled a team called the Hospital Task Force to do an assessment bringing together experts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and well as individuals from FEMA to go to area hospitals to assess damages the facilities sustained following the 2017 storms. He said the assessment is called "50-50" because it aims to determine whether the facilities have been damaged by at least 50 percent to help make some decisions at t...