Volunteer nurses from the AFT traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands this month to provided health screenings for 600 students a day and distribute medical supplies to schools still recovering from last fall’s hurricanes. AFT President Randi Weingarten also visited last week, checking in with members of the St. Croix Federation of Teachers and the St. Thomas-St. John Federation of Teachers. These members are dealing with overflowing classrooms (students from 13 schools have been crowded into just five school sites), continued intermittent power outages, and a persistent gas leak that is endangering their health and the health of their students.

Read the nurses’ accounts of relief efforts in the islands.