TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — What moves in and out of the Port of Tampa makes our day-to-day so much easier.
But a new facility within the port is making the day to day for its workers easier.
A medical facility is located within the port. It's geared toward the people who work on the ships and for the businesses surrounding it.
Duellyn Pandis, the Director of Clinical Practice and faculty practice at the USF College of Nursing leads the team there.
"I don't think there's any nurse run clinics at any of the ports. This is the first in the world," she said. "There are some ports that have like emergency services. Like, an ambulance will sit on the port, which is a good thing to have, because accidents happen all the time. You think about the huge cranes and moving the containers on and off of ships, things like that. The injuries within the engine rooms or, you know, just everyday work that goes on at the port, being able to access medical care, you know, quick and easy whether, you know, it's a stuffy nose or stomach ache, or you know, you've caught yourself you know, as part of your daily job."
Pandis explains that the new clinic is making it much easier and more affordable for workers to get quality care.
"Being in a restricted area, it is difficult for the employees that work on the port and the seafarers that are coming in on the ships to seek medical care. It takes a good 40 minutes for an ambulance to get on site. And then if they have to go off site, it's basically a day of their time, whether it's PTO or off the vessel. And that puts everybody in a predicament," she added.
The clinic officially opened on May 29, next door to the Tampa Port Ministries Seafarers Center, another resource available for seafarers.
Fritz Goltermann is the Chaplain for them. We caught him in a brief break between helping the people on the cargo ships.
"When the cargo ships, the cruise ships, come in the port, and any other kind of ships, we are here for them. So we support them in many facets. We bring Wi Fi to the ships. This is like key. This is the game changer. They have WiFi, but it's very limited. All of a sudden, they have unlimited WiFi. Now they can talk and FaceTime with their loved ones back in the Philippines, India, Ukraine. You name it," he explained.
Goltermann says something as simple as WiFi means the world to the workers, some of whom have been on the ship for upwards of nine months.
"Their eyeballs pretty much pop right out of their head. I mean, they can't believe it. Because not a lot of the ports, the Seafarer centers in the ports do this. I recommend if anyone from another sea person who's watching this please get the hotspots. But like I said it's a game changer because now they're going to be able to talk with their loved ones and see their kids, talk to their wives, their moms, dads, and just be able to communicate," he said.
The team is there to support the workers in any way they can. After dropping off the WiFi packs, Goltermann took off again, this time to chauffeur some of the seafarers with work Visas. But Goltermann says the conversations they provide can sometimes be the biggest gift to the workers.
"They're the forgotten ones, because they're bringing the product from all over the world into our cities," he said. "The idea of what we do as a ministry. Just come walk in and be beside them, and help them in every which way, you know, I've had a lot of great conversations with them one on one from a cook to the captain."
For more information on the clinic, click here.
For more information on the Tampa Seafarers Center, click here.
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