A race against the clock for Irma’s dialysis patients

When Hurricane Irma slammed into the U.S. Virgin Islands, Alvin Joseph was home in St. Thomas with his wife, his oldest granddaughter and four of his great-grandchildren.

As the wind howled, Joseph and his wife went into the little boys’ bedroom to get a mattress and box spring for protection.

“The ceiling tiles had already disappeared out of the roof and we could see the sky,” Joseph said. “By the time we left out of the bedroom to go back in the living room — whoosh — roof was gone.”

The family survived, but not unscathed. Joseph’s oldest great-grandson had a deep cut on his head from a falling light fixture. When the storm settled, Joseph put the boy in his car and gingerly drove through the debris-strewn streets to St. Thomas’ only hospital.

“So much structural damage was done to the hospital,” Joseph said. He found the dialysis center in the hospital damaged by water that had run down through the ceiling.

And that’s when he realized he had his own medical crisis to deal with.

To read the full story on the dialysis patients, click here

This story was originally published October 2, 2017 at 11:02 PM with the headline "A race against the clock for Irma’s dialysis patients."