Officials discussed relocating a temporary hospital — built after Hurricane Irma damaged the Marathon, Fla.-based Fishermen's Community Hospital — to the western side of the Florida Keys Marathon International Airport during a Nov. 14 meeting, FLKeysNews reports.
Fishermen's Community Hospital sustained significant damage to its roof and exterior after Hurricane Irma blew through the area Sept. 10. Officials have not disclosed when the hospital will be reopened. However, a hospital executive reportedly said during a luncheon last week the facility will need to be destroyed and rebuilt, according to the report.
Nearly two weeks after the hurricane, officials constructed a temporary hospital to continue providing care to local residents. The temporary mobile hospital comprises a five-bed emergency department, a six-bed inpatient unit, diagnostic equipment and a laboratory, and is staffed by emergency room physicians, nurse practitioners, and radiology and laboratory technicians.
Miami-based Baptist Health South Florida, which owns Fishermen's, has a contract in place with the North Carolina HHS department to operate the mobile hospital unit until Dec. 16. Once the contract expires, officials said they plan to "use higher-grade equipment [at] the second new temporary hospital … [which] will probably last about two years," the report states.
The move to relocate the hospital to the airport would require approval by the Federal Aviation Administration, along with approval from the state legislature. However, officials are also considering relocating the facility to an area behind a disabled veterans organization.
Officials intend to discuss the issue further during their next meeting Dec. 13.