Sick Puerto Ricans desperate for aid hope for flight to US

They're waiting for help that may never come.

Sick residents of Puerto Rico say that waiting for a flight that might never come is still their best bet for getting the care they need.

It was around 8 p.m. Saturday, and Ophelia Quinones was sitting beside her husband reclined on a hospital gurney at Aguadilla airport in Puerto Rico.

The couple had spent most of the day waiting for an airplane that never showed up to the hurricane-battered island.

Quinones, 65, and her husband, Wilberto Feliciano, 86, had arrived at the airport in the morning to claim seats on a charter flight to Miami, Fla., where Feliciano, who is diabetic, would seek treatment for an ulcer he had developed in one of his toes.

"They didn't explain. Each time the plane didn't come, they kept saying it was delayed. It was delayed an hour, and then another hour, until we found out that it was cancelled," Quinones told the Daily News. "It never came, and now we don't know if it ever will."

RELATED: The most devastating images of the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico

The flight had been organized by Christopher Bailey, who founded the Florida Civilian Aviation Corps, to have volunteer pilots and planes deliver supplies to Puerto Rico, and connect them to patients seeking transport off the island. Bailey posted an ad seeking pilots on Barnstormers.com, an online aviation marketplace, to which a young pilot responded.

"He was a pilot, and he said he knew a woman with the money for a flight and they had arranged a charter plane," Bailey said.

Feliciano's daughters, who live in Orlando, caught wind of the initiative. They arranged for their father to travel to Miami so that he could have an angioplasty.

Their intentions were good, but the flight fell through, leaving dozens of patients, some in critical condition, stranded at Aguadilla airport.

Troy Martin, vice president of sales for Miami Air International, described what went wrong.

"We were contracted to fly the flight, we positioned the plane and crew in Orlando, but when we got there, we were never able to get a passenger manifest or equipment manifest, and the passengers were at the wrong terminal."

He said the flight crew waited for two hours before reaching the limit of how many hours they could work in a day. "The crew timed out and wasn't able to do the flight," he said. "So we ended up having to leave."

That’s not the only problem facing Puerto Ricans in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria that pummeled the island last month. The death toll in the U.S. territory stands at 45, with many parts still waiting for power and clean water.

The hospital in Aguadilla, on Puerto Rico's northwestern tip, where Feliciano was originally scheduled to undergo surgery, has become contaminated by mold that's grown as a result of 90-degree temperatures on most floors, including in the hospital's intensive care unit.

"The mold grows so fast at these temperatures and you can't have patients in the hospital," said humanitarian volunteer Dr. Alison Thompson. "It's a huge problem."

Patients requiring dialysis have been moved to an air-conditioned office building across the street, she said.

Thompson was called to the airport Saturday, which she and pediatric nurse Chris DeMello turned into a makeshift hospital through the early hours.

Forgotten passengers and their family members remained at the airport, some without anywhere to go.

Quinones and Feliciano said they were stuck at the airport with few alternatives. They didn't have a ride home, but were reluctant to go to the hospital.

And so they stayed at the airport, in hopes that another plane might rescue them.

"We want to get to Florida so that he can get an angioplasty and try to save his foot," Quinones said.

"Because they are talking about amputating his foot but we don't want that," she added. "He needs to leave."

Carlos Perez, an 8-year-old boy with pituitary dwarfism and a metabolic disorder, was cradled by his family inside the airport.

It had been two weeks since he'd taken his medication, which had gone bad due to a lack of refrigeration.

"They lost $500 worth of medication because it needed to be refrigerated," DeMello said.

His parents have been feeding him baby food since Hurricane Maria hit, because his restrictive diet prevents him from eating solid foods. With no power, Carlos is unable to follow his usual regimen.

"Baby food is the only thing we can give him right now, because we don't have access to prepare his food. We need a food processor and refrigeration, because he eats blended, pureed food only," his father, Jorge Perez said.

Perez said he heard about the flight through his sister. He wasn't clear on where it was coming from, or who had funded it.

But even when it didn't show, Perez could think of few options other than remaining at the airport. The family lives in Gurabo, about three hours away from Aguadilla. "We can't go back to our home," he said. "So we will just wait."

DeMello said there wasn't much she could do locally, other than check the boy's blood pressure, which she described as unusually high for his age.

"He needs to go to the United States. He needs a flight out," she said.

The plane they were waiting for finally arrived Sunday, albeit through another humanitarian aid effort. The organization was different but the mission the same, and Feliciano and his wife were able to catch rides to Florida, offering a sliver of hope amid the devastation.