Florida Gov. Charlie Crist: 'We Have Put No Hold' on Military Flights from Haiti
Jan. 31, 2010— -- The U.S. military reportedly halted flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims to the United States, allegedly because of a dispute over payment and where seriously injured patients should be taken for treatment.
The apparent halt came one day after Florida Gov. Charlie Crist wrote a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, warning, "Florida's health care system is quickly reaching saturation, especially in the area of high level trauma care."
But officials in Crist's office said they didn't know of any Florida hospitals turning away patients. He asked Sebelius to activate the National Disaster Medical System, which is typically used in domestic disasters and pays for victims' care.
"Good Morning America Weekend" anchor Kate Snow spoke with Gov. Charlie Crist by phone from Miami.
Kate Snow: Good morning, governor.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist: Thank you, Kate. Great to be with you.
Snow: Thank you for being here so early. Help us understand what has happened here. Our understanding is that military flights were called off. Civilian flights can still happen airlifting patients out, but the military has put a stop to this. Is that your understanding?
Crist: That is not our understanding. In fact, we've had flights that have continued into Florida over the past 19 days. Kate, we've about 18,000 repatriations to Florida. Three hundred of those were orphans. Sixty to 80 orphans came in Friday night at Miami International. Seven hundred repatriations in the last 24 hours alone. But Florida has helped over 526 people, 171 are still in care in our hospitals.
Snow: But military flights, just to be clear, governor, are still landing in Florida to go to hospitals there?
Crist: That's our understanding. We have put no hold on any military. I mean, I'm commander in chief of the Florida National Guard, but I don't have authority to stop any military flights, nor would we want to. So we welcome all Haitians with open arms, in Sanford, right outside of Orlando, in Miami at Miami International and at Homestead base here in South Florida. So, it's all hands on deck here in the Sunshine State. We're welcoming Haitians with open arms and probably done more than any other state and happy to continue to do so.
