Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. said on Wednesday he would not declare the Juan F.Luis Hospital (JFL) a state of emergency after being asked by Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen to do so. The governor said he would rather work toward rectifying the hospital’s current ills with the hopes of once more moving it toward accreditation.
Christensen on Monday called on de Jongh to declare JFL a state of emergency, as doing so would make it easier for the delegate to secure funds in Washington, D.C. and get federal agencies to move with speed in sending aid to the mired hospital.
“I spoke to the U.S. Department of Interior Insular Affairs officials and they are prepared to give the hospital some of the funding it needs,” Christensen said on Monday. “It is my hope that this will assure CMS that Luis Hospital will get the money they need to correct immediate problems and put them on a path to long term solutions.”
She added: “I am also calling U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell to ask that they treat this as the emergency that it is. St. Croix has one hospital. People have no other alternatives, they cannot drive to another county or state to seek care.”
On Tuesday night, Governor de Jongh met with senators of the 30th Legislature and Dr. Kendall Griffith, JFL interim CEO, to discuss a way forward.
“This was an opportunity for the senators to hear directly from Dr. Kendall Griffith about the CMS report, what he agrees with and the portions of the report to which he takes exception,” de Jongh said. “More importantly, the meeting underscored for everyone the importance of identifying the risks as outlined by CMS and working together to develop a clear path forward to address the issues through a comprehensive corrective action plan that we hope will lead to a reconsideration by CMS of its decision.”
It is not yet known the level of success, if any, that Congresswoman Christensen has had in Washington as it relates to the Luis Hospital.
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