Puerto Rico is becoming more of a retirement community than anything else because of the hurricane it has made life impossible for most people including pregnant women or women with children. So, if you don't want to live in the dark ages (literally with no electricity or air conditioning) with temperatures recently above 100 degrees with close to 100 percent humidity you are going to leave with no electricity which has been happening more and more each day since the hurricane. So, more and more the people left are the retired or men still working there while suffering through no electricity and no air conditioning. So, either the future will eventually be more abandonment of the island for the mainland or it will tilt back towards people moving back to Puerto Rico. So, it is hard to say which way it will go in the long run.
CBS NewsOctober 20, 2017, 7:44 AM
Vulnerable Puerto Ricans look beyond government for help leaving the island
Friday marks one month since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico. President Trump rated his administration's response
to the crisis 10 out of 10 and gave his "blessing" to lawmakers to help
build a new power station on the island, but the situation is still
dire for many Puerto Ricans.
CBS News correspondent David Begnaud
met some of the most vulnerable people, whose lives may depend on
getting out of the territory.
Carmelo Diaz has lived with ALS for
29 years. The former tennis player's body has failed around an otherwise
healthy mind. A ventilator keeps him alive.
"He needs electricity all time," said his wife, Bere Padilla.
Hurricane Maria cut off access to power and water for many. Diaz, who communicates through facial movements, tells his wife he's afraid of dying if he stays here.
Bere Padilla and Carmelo Diaz
CBS News
There was no mistaking his emotion after receiving the news that a
foundation in New Orleans is ready to welcome him. It was one of his
relatives who found help through Team Gleason, a foundation started by
former New Orleans Saint player and current ALS patient Steve Gleason.
But
he's still torn about leaving – a familiar feeling for many Puerto
Ricans who've decided to leave. There's no official count of those
who've evacuated since the storm, but Florida officials report more than
52,000 people have flown in from the island, this month alone.
Lyssette
Santiago is keeping track of which neighbors are gone. Her husband,
Jesus Garces Soto, is battling stage 4 ureteral cancer.
Asked why, Garces Soto said, "Cause I want – I want a better way of life."
"Please help my people. Please help the patients," Santiago said to CBS News two weeks ago.
Steve Gleason and Carmelo Diaz in New Orleans
CBS News
Their
pleas have been heard. The American Cancer Society has evacuated about a
dozen patients on charter planes and is now making arrangements to do
the same for Garces Soto.
"It is an issue of life and death," said Dr. Lillian Santos. She oversees American Cancer Society operations in Puerto Rico.
"The
people should have a choice and the option of getting the best standard
of care. And if the choice is in the states, we are going to do
everything to make that happen," she said.
Carmelo Diaz was evacuated earlier this week and put on a plane headed for New Orleans.
"In Puerto Rico, my husband was afraid to die. Be here, I am very happy," Diaz's wife said.
One of his first visitors at Ochsner Medical Center? Steve Gleason, the
man who helped bring him here. Though neither can physically speak, the
power of the moment was easily understood.
Carmelo Diaz's family has started an online fundraiser to help repair their home while they're in New Orleans.
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