A group of Bay area doctors, some with ties to Puerto Rico, have been doing what they can to help get medical aid and supplies to the island, including delivering those supplies themselves.

When Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico, it devastated the country’s infrastructure and cut residents off from the medical care they need.

USF Health internal medicine physician Dr. Elimarys Perez-Colon, who grew up in Puerto Rico, got together with other local physicians and decided they needed to help. They traveled to Puerto Rico in early October.

"The main goal was get supplies and medications, different medical equipment that the local physicians in Puerto Rico are going to need,” Perez-Colon said. "And the other goal was to provide physicians to then assist their physicians in the island.”

They brought nearly 4,000 pounds of medical supplies to the island and hit the ground running, traveling to patients in mostly rural areas and giving the island’s overwhelmed and fatigued doctors some help.

"We saw a lot of patients that needed medical attention that could not get to the hospital for multiple reasons,” Perez-Colon said. "The main reason was there was very little access to the small roads that were still covered with debris and trees and stuff like that.”

The group calls itself "Doctors for Puerto Rico: A Hope and Health Project." USF Health teamed up with Tampa General Hospital to collect supplies and donate money. The hospital donated $50,000 to the cause.

"Money only goes so far -- the real passion comes when we are able to donate our knowledge and our services and so forth so hopefully as the relief effort continues we are going to be involved in providing our expertise and care both locally in Puerto Rico as well,” Dr. Ravi Bukkapatnam, Chief of Staff at Tampa General Hospital, said.

Bukkapatnam said this is a long-term initiative. The hospital will continue to send supplies and medication and Dr. Colon-Perez is already planning more trips with even more physicians to Puerto Rico. She said they will bring a psychiatrist with them next time to help with mental health on the island.

To learn more about the project, visit their page on Facebook. To make a donation to help their ongoing efforts, visit http://www.hopeandhealthproject.com/pages.asp?pageid=Doctors-for-Puerto-Rico.