Puerto Rico adding paid paramedics to island following CBS report

Officials in Puerto Rico said Monday that they’re adding six paid paramedics to Culebra — an island and tourist destination of around 1,800 where residents and tourists have reported a lack of critical emergency medical services. The announcement comes a week after “CBS Mornings” lead national correspondent David Begnaud reported on the island’s conditions.

Puerto Rico’s government said it’s also hiring six paramedics to work at Vieques, another island south of Culebra. The salary for all 12 positions was bumped to $2,250 a month, up from $1,725, officials said. Each paramedic will also receive an additional $1,250 stipend, they said.

Days after Begnaud’s story aired last week, Puerto Rico’s government said the main island was sending a team of two paramedics to Culebra to work seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time. Before that, the small island — which has recorded 18 known recorded drowning deaths since 1994 — had no working paramedics or available ambulances stocked with necessary emergency supplies.

On Puerto Rico’s world-renowned Flamenco Beach there were no working lifeguards present to watch over the beach until recently. Families of Flamenco Beach drowning victims previously spoke with Begnaud about the devastating impacts a lack of such care has had.

The Bureau of Emergency Medical Corps of Puerto Rico on Thursday shared pictures of officials meeting with Culebra mayor Edilberto Romero Llovet, who recently told Begnaud that he’s trying to change the island’s conditions.

Puerto Rico’s department of public health says they’ve sent Begnaud’s reporting to members of Congress and have asked for funding to permanently fix the situation that has plagued Culebra for years.