Three Haitians and three Americans who survived last month's earthquake arrived at Tampa International Airport on Tuesday night.
The earthquake victims arrived in a C-130 airplane at around 9:45 p.m. The Haitians will need plastic and orthopedic surgery, and they will be taken to Tampa General Hospital, said Joe Lezama, chief of medicine at James A. Haley Veterans Hospital.
Two of the Americans have abdominal problems and will be sent to St. Joseph's Hospital. A third American is not expected to be hospitalized. Officials don't know if the Americans were injured during the earthquake or while helping the victims of the earthquake.
After the plane landed, the victims were taken to a triage area at the airport to be evaluated and prioritized by level of care.
One of the Haitian victims is the child of Richard Morse, a well-known musician from Port-au-Prince. He accompanied his child on the flight, said Brenda Geoghagan, a TIA spokeswoman.
There have been three flights from Haiti that have landed at TIA. The first two flights were paid by the state, but this flight was paid by the federal government under a program that was activated on Feb. 2 called the National Disaster Medical System.
"All inpatient care will be federally funded at a rate exceeding that of Medicare," Lezama said.
The James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and the Department of Veterans Affairs helped organize Tuesday's efforts.
"These are human beings we are dealing with and you feel for them," said Victor Ramos, the Department of Veterans Affairs area emergency manager. "They're hurting, so we're hurting also."
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