IslandMix - Soca, Reggae, Zouk and Caribbean Entertainment

...but it seems to me that something is very wrong when your emergency service of ambulances & paramedics need to ask people to bring those in dire need to the hospital. I'm sure somewhere there is money being used for less important issues.


Woman collapses, dies waiting for ambulance

By Rohandra John


Tuesday, April 27th 2004


The woman, who collapsed on Broadway around 8.30 a.m. and died shortly after, has been identified as Margaret Williams, 37, of Dow Village, California.

Broadway vendor Nazeem Haniff, who rushed to the woman's assistance when she fell in front of his stall, blamed the woman's death on negligence by the ambulance service.

Haniff insisted that the woman's life could have been saved had the ambulance responded.

Haniff said when he called the ambulance from his cell phone "they tell me to see if I could get transportation for the woman and call them back to let them know if I get transportation to take the woman to the hospital. I called them back again and then when I wasn't getting no good response I called the E-999 police."

Another women, who wished to remain anonymous, said she too rushed into a drugstore and telephoned the ambulance but "nobody responded to our calls. She could have lived. She would have made it if she only had oxygen. Is a good while she sit down there waiting for help."

Haniff said what was even more shocking was that around 10.15 a.m. when an ambulance did pull up along Broadway, "we thought they (ambulance) had finally come. But the driver turn and tell one of the fellas that they were not responding to our calls. They said they had to go somewhere else and that (assisting) will put them out of their runnings."

Haniff said he did what he could to help the woman including wetting her face with soda water, which he bought, in an attempt to help her feel better. He said he and two other men had hoisted the women onto a chair and waited for the ambulance, which never came.

Haniff said the woman who collapsed around 8.30 a.m. eventually passed away around 9.15 a.m.

The corpse which lay slumped in a chair and which was covered up with a sheet by police officers, attracted a mammoth crowd of curious onlookers.

Haniff said the police found packs of pills in Williams' bag, "so it seems like the woman was on medication or something".

I almost imploded with anger when I read this!!!!!! I can name 10 things off the bat that money is being spent needlessly on! STEUUUUUUPPPPPSSSS!

That both saddens and sickens me...as a child I'll always remember my mother carrying around her pills with her...and something about reading this just breaks my heart thinking that that person died because of ineptitude and unprofessionalism in a service into whose hands so many of us unflinchingly put our lives and our trust.

That is so extremely sad is a shame. Money is constantly being wasted in T&T. Look they have something similar (can't remember the name) to what 10 days use to be (doh kno if it still exist). Want to know what they have people doin? Trimmin lil grass by de side of the road and painting friggin stones then puttin up a sign for recognition. Why it cah have more ambulances and better friggin responses. Reminds me of someone who told me about their relative callin police because of a burglar and police sayin we have no vehicles right now so we can't respond.

This is all in line with the lackadaisical mentality prevalent in TnT. It's not even about money for ambulances, etc., but it's the attitude of the people back there that "anything goes". Problem with Trinis back home is they accept this as the norm. I'm sure this woman's family would not even sue them. When would Trinis wake up and realize this kind of mentality is putting us miles behind!

I agree with all of you. As much as I love my T&T there is PLENTY that needs to be corrected. It seems like there is no sense of urgency for things that really matter. Reading this is ticking me off and wondering when will my people back home wake up. I'm reading about the Government wanting to bring T&T to what is it...2020 but at this rate it's heading towards 1920.

__________________
"If u put a small price on ur value.. rest assure that the world wont raise ur price! Love U 2day!" ~ Rev. Run

"If you keep believing in yourself and seek enthusiasm inside your soul, things will get simpler, more spontaneous." ~Paulo Coelho

"Knowledge is like the wind, once you obtain it, you can go anywhere." ~Yellow Hare(Native-American Chief)

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit
the floor each morning the devil says:
"Oh Crap, She's up!"