Over Two Weeks After Superstorm Sandy, Some Still Struggling to Get Basic Needs

Virgino Lugo Mejis is waiting in line to get food, water, and blankets. After this he'll walk almost five miles to get treatment for his diabetes. He said he's fed up with the lines and the travel. 

 

"I don't care if I don't have no more water, I'm just going to do without," he said. "Standing in these lines for two hours, then to leave here and go to the doctor, it's too much for me."

 

Mejis used to go to Coney Island Hospital just a few blocks from his home, but Sandy caused significant damage to the facility, and he was forced to relocate to a new clinic.

 

Coney Island Hospital will not be fully up and running until next year. The facility had to evacuate roughly 200 patients when Superstorm Sandy hit. Dr. Jerry Watman is a Pediatrician at Coney Island Hospital, but he now sees patients inside a mobile van. Dr. Watman said the two main problems are diabetics who need insulin and children with asthma. 

 

"It seems that the dust in the street has not helped the situation, and they [patients] ran out of their meds," he said.

 

Coney Island Hospital is providing limited services, but critical care units, operating rooms, and in-patient units will not be available until 2013.