Well this morning I woke up and as soon as I went downstairs I hear the wife complaining about some fella on Breakfast TV that say he get unfair in the Caribbean after breaking his hip. He claimed that the hospital facilities did piss poor (literally) and the like and he real vex.
Anyway I just dismissed that cause you know once something aint North American to certain people up here is pure criticism. That was until I started getting emails this morning about how if I see the people up here in Toronto dissing Barbados. I didn't even sure what was happening but then I read this story.
Lawd have his mercy, I had to ask if the fellas send the man to a hospital or a pig sty cause the fella family say: "There was urine on the floor for at least an hour near where I was" and "The bed railing they're probably 50-year-old pieces of wood tied up with gauze to the bed. There was basically birds coming into the room.
Well boy all I can say is its a crying shame. Thing is I aint know if I can defend the fellas home or not. I still feel in my heart that this fella exaggerating the truth and the media lapping it up cause we preceived as a poor third world country where everybody duz walk 'bout barefoot, live in a mud shack and duz beg tourists for toffees at de airport cause you know that is how everybody duz see all third world countries. But I mean even when I was a yout and my family was in the QEH hospital I never see no wooden railings so either things gone real backwards or well I don't know what to say. I mean wooden railings tie up with guaze? I vex then cause nuhbody home aint even inform me that we hire Mcgyver as the hospital director down there?
And as for the birds, close the window nuh man. I had to say the hospital fellas musse did think he was baby Jesus or something cause I swear the man describing a manger that them put he in. Birds is just one step short of animals. Next thing I would read is 'In the Evening Betsy the black belly sheep nuzzled gently at my toes while Suzie the brown cow ask me to size roun (size roun is bajan for give me some space in the bed)"
No man I really feel things were not as nice as they would like but I really don't think they were as bad as described. Or were they? Lawd ave mercy. Somebody home better respond and let muh know.
Mind you as my friends back home like to remind me we got a private hospital in Barbados that gets top marks so if he was so fully insured I don't see why they aint send him there instead of sending him to the public one where the service sometimes is questionable. Yea I would give him that one, sometimes the actual service at the QEH aint the nicest but at least I feel confident that the doctors there know what they doing unlike some I meet up here. Cause up here everybody specialized. You go to the Dr up here and tell him that your toe hurting you and he referring you to a toe specialist. Then you go to the toe specialist and say "man my lil toe hurting me" and he duz look at ya and say "oh sorry I can't help ya, I is only a big toe specialist let me refer ya to a lil toe specialist" and by the time ya get an appointment wid the lil toe man your toe nail drop off and ya whole foot gangrene.
But back to the poor fella that break his hip. I surprised I aint hear that he drop in a pothole on Roebuck street and that is what cause he to break his hip but who fault it is that the Canadian healthcare sucks and they couldn't find a bed for him up here? Cha! He should be glad that when he went to the QEH they aint send him in the Casualty, make him wait 12hrs and then send he home wid two Panadol.
Anyway I shouldn't make light of the situation. I feel sorry for the old guy. Plus this is a serious accusation (causing me to blog at work) so I hope the fellows in Bim aware of what happening and if something wrong at the hospital they'll fix it cause World Cup just around the corner and for all the talk about encouraging tourists if one of them get injured and get bad treatment at the QEH we going to get real bad publicity and no tourists.
13 comments:
Nobody told his old ass to fall and break his hip in the first place. Not to sound cruel, but what an ass. What purpose does going to media serve?
That sucks...
McGyver?
Boy, you made me laugh out loud with that one! I almost spilt my drink.
You have to admit that the video did show not the best of hospital facilities... I can't say I would want to stay there either. That bed railing alone was quite sad looking. It does make you wonder about the other equipment. On the flip side of it though, Canadians are pampered with things so much here, they end up expecting everywhere else to be the same, and if it's not... it's a "3rd World Country". We take too much for granted in this country.
Hopefully this stays low key on the media, or better yet Bim does something to improve the bad rep that may follow. Nothing will stop tourists from coming for the World Cup, but I'd hate for Barbados to get the reputation for being a backwards, poor country.
I haven't seen the story yet, but cheese on bread man, it's the tropics, the odd sparrow will fly in no matter what. He lucky he didn't get some visits by lizards too! Is unfortunate about the urine (if that was the case) and when i spent time in there back in '82 the "old" beds were the iron kind with the wheel at the front you could crank up with a wench (somebody has to know what i'm talking about - Dr. D?) It had to be a temporary fix because I know that wood thing isn't typical. As you said j-did, it's been a while but things can't be as bad as he is making it.I find the north american view if things can really skew the truth of a situation sometimes.
I read dis fuh de thrid time and between Mcgyver and de toe specialist I still deading with laugh.
But seriously though, you should send did to The Nation or to Owen or somebody. True or lie somebody gotta address this.
More than likely over exaggeration.yesterday I got into an argument with a coworker who was acting as if our main hospital is a death trap.It is not perfect but neither is it as bad as she was making it sound.Seems like these days there is no middle ground
Ok, I'm gonna have to come back and finish reading this one when I'm done with my food. Urine, piss and hospitals don't mix well with boxed dinner.
You are a nutcase --- pinky toe drop off cuzza gangrene? HAHAHHA
But seriously - I think that it has to be an overexaggeration or something cuz urine on the floor is kinda crazy sounding.
That man with the bruk hip get me real vex.
He vex cause we in the Caribbean poor? As Miz JJ says, what purpose does going to the media serve?
Like he never saw that show Oprah did about doctors in FIRST WORLD countries messing up BIG TIME.
STCHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP.
De old man fi just cool himself. Why do people always continue to just look down and critize everything in the Caribbean as primitive. That story was probably sooo blown up by the time it reached Canada.
Unfortuneatley I have to agree that the hospitals here in Jamaica are far from desireable, especially the public hospitals.
But he needs to understand that not every country has the luxury of a first world country, Instead of beating down the caribben hospital he should be trying to get them some help!
Hospitals can be one scary ting.
I have spent a lot of time at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH)this year, my father 94 was sick and hospitalized for 15 days; and so was my aunt who is 85. She was in for 14 days. So from January to the end of February I visited them at the QEH for 27 of the 29 days that they were hospitalized. We must be doing something right in Barbados that we have so many elders. I accompanied and visited with them in Accident and Emergency, in the Medical Out Patients Clinic and on Wards B6 and B9 and I did not see urine on any floors at ANY time. If the Canadian saw urine on the floor that would have to be an exceptional circumstance. The birds are true but you cannot close the windows in the tropics unless the whole hospital is air conditioned. Air conditioning is expensive and can only be run using expensive and environmentally unfriendly fossil fuels. The wooded bed rails are true. Yes the QEH needs some new beds, but maybe we are using 1960's rails because we spend so much health money on training doctors, nurses, technicians etc. at little or no cost to the trainees. Did the Canadian ask the doctors and nurses how much they paid for their university education and other training? The answer is virtually nothing. I have one Canadian born and one Barbadian born child and I can honestly that the care the Canadian born child received, between 1982 and 1987 in Canada and the care that both children received in Barbados from 1987 to to 2006 is virtually identical and I am speaking about publicly funded health (and education, but don't get me started on that) services not private fee based services. So Canadians need not have any medical fears about coming to Barbados. This Barbadian/Canadian/Barbadian is doing fine in Barbados and so are3 the Canadian and Barbadian children.
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