The Island Next Door

Trinity College in Hartford will take in five new students from the island at no cost for the next semester. It’s part of an overall program aimed at supporting the Puerto Rican relief effort.

There will be a unity march for Puerto Rico on Sunday in Washington D.C.

Ana Valentin-Jackson is on the national committee for this event and is mobilizing Connecticut residents to get to the nation’s capital.

When we met Dr. Bolivar Arboleda Osorio in the city of Caguas a few weeks back, he talked about his experience treating patients in the aftermath of the storm -- first came the trauma victims, then came the chronic and severe cases that were becoming emergencies as time dragged on and the lights stayed off. Electronic records were stuck in the cloud. Patients, not able to call for an appointment, just showed up.

A return home from a distant journey is often comforting. For members of the Puerto Rican community in Connecticut the return to the island for them after Hurricane Maria is far different from their previous trips.

Carolina Riollano flew into Florida on a humanitarian plane that was packed with people. Most of them were elderly or ill. But Riollano’s reason for leaving her home was different. She came here to learn.

Angel Rodriguez stood on the porch of his apartment overlooking the bay of San Juan. In the distance, a military helicopter was lifting off from an airstrip near the city’s convention center where the hurricane relief effort was being staged.

Pedro Bermudez, a Hartford school teacher, retired many years ago to Puerto Rico. He planned to live there for good with his wife Jeanette Hernandez.

It’s 7:00 am, and Joemar Class is dressed in his new Bulkeley High School uniform. His older brother William already finished school in Puerto Rico, so he’s still asleep in the bedroom the two boys share with their father.

We drove to Caguas, a city south of San Juan, four weeks after Hurricane Maria hit. Our guide was Luis Cotto -- a former Hartford city councilman now living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We traveled to Puerto Rico to tell stories; he traveled to deliver thousands of dollars in inflatable solar lights and water filters to people who need them, including members of his family.

When Serafin Mendez heard that thousands of students from the University of Puerto Rico wouldn't be able to continue their education because of hurricane-related damage to the campus, he decided to do something.