USACE Installs 500th Generator in Puerto Rico

Photo By Sgt. Avery Cunningham | CASTAÑER, Puerto Rico – Monte Miller, an electrician contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, links electrical cables to a generator at Hospital General Castañer, Nov. 10, 2017. USACE installed their 500th generator at the hospital, so that it could maintain and repair their current generator, which had been running for 1,300 hours since Hurricane Irma. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Avery Cunningham)  

CASTAÑER, PUERTO RICO

11.10.2017

Story by Sgt. Avery Cunningham 

65th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

CASTAÑER, Puerto Rico, Nov. 10, 2017 – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers installed their 500th generator at Hospital General Castañer, so that the hospital could maintain and repair their current generator, which had been running for 1,300 hours since Hurricane Irma. USACE is moving from reactive generator emplacement to preemptive placement.

“Having this generator here at this hospital means we can service the generator that has been running straight since (Hurricane Irma),” said Adrián González, chief operating officer at the hospital.

“We have been doing maintenance, but we haven’t been able to turn it down for a complete checkup,” said González. “We are aware that there are pieces and parts of that generator that are already going out, so being able to stop that generator and complete the work on it will assure us that after the power comes back on, we will have a reliable generator on site.”

The hospital is the primary employer for the town, and it provides a variety of services for residents.

“We have a pharmacy and a shop here,” said González. “This facility here at the hospital is one of the critical areas in the neighborhood.”

The hospital has kept running throughout the whole crisis, and the generator will allow it to continue to do so. The generator also powers the water pump for a well that the hospital uses to provide water for the community.

“If we didn’t have power we would have to find a way to give services in our emergency room only,” said González. “We would only be able to treat minimal things in the emergency room. We would lose every single medication that has to be refrigerated. We would lose all the vaccines. There would be no water for the community or the hospital. It would mean a possible public health crisis for the area.”

The hospital is opening clinics in small towns around the area to provide care for those who can’t make it to a health center. The vaccines they provide will reduce risk of an influenza epidemic. They also provide health and water quality information.

“We are mass vaccinating,” said González. “There’s a lot of work that we are not doing here in the facility, but we are using the facility as a central command to do work in the communities.”

• Date Taken: 11.10.2017
• Date Posted: 11.11.2017 10:11
• Story ID: 254981
• Location: CASTAÑER, PR