St John Ambulance, JN deliver first aid in St Elizabeth, Westmoreland

As communities begin to recover from Hurricane Melissa’s recent landfall, more than 250 volunteers mobilised by St John Ambulance Jamaica and the JN Foundation delivered first-aid to nearly 800 residents in the hardest-hit areas of St Elizabeth and Westmoreland.

The Jamaica Automobile Association, a JN Group member company, which transported the volunteers, also provided residents with hours of Wi-Fi internet via a Starlink connection, as communities remain without power and Internet access.

Volunteers and qualified first-aid responders and trainers treated several elderly Jamaicans with chronic ailments who lost prescribed medication during the catastrophic hurricane, and other people, mainly men, who have been unable to seek medical treatment for injuries sustained during the storm. Several roads remain impassable in the parishes and hospitals and healthcare facilities in the region have been damaged and stretched beyond capacity.

Vincent Wilson, an elderly resident of Barton Wharf in Lacovia, St Elizabeth, was among those who was seen by the team. Wilson, who lives alone, was rescued by his neighbour Nicholas Morgan and his wife as the violent hurricane winds ravaged Wilson’s home, constructed of mainly board.

“When we go over there, he was trapped in a closet … Him go under there (the wardrobe/ closet) to look shelter, but the house tumble down and [trap him],” Morgan explained to a group of volunteers from the JN Group.

Morgan, his wife and son, recognised the emergency while trying to save their chickens and responded immediately by cutting the fence bordering the two properties to rescue the elderly man. They called but heard nothing at first, and, with no response, they were about to leave when they heard rumbling in the dismantled structure. They struggled to pull his tall, lanky frame from the wardrobe.

“He barely could walk because him cramp, but we shoulder him until we get him [across],” Morgan explained. Wilson, thankful for life, is currently staying with the Morgans, but the diabetic’s blood pressure and ‘sugar’ medications were lost in the storm.

Others, mostly men, seen by volunteers, continued to labour, fixing the roofs of their homes, family members and neighbours, despite being in pain themselves.

NO ACCESS TO MEDICAL FACILITY

Ramorio Solomon from Rice Piece fell while driving his motorcycle just a day prior to the volunteers’ visit. Blotches, commonly known as ‘cherries’, were visible on his left arm and right leg. With no access to a medical facility, only hydrogen peroxide was available to dress the wounds. Romeo Wright, son-in-law of the elderly Meleta Harris, who also lost most of her medication for high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney and heart condition, fell as he carried her from her home during the storm after the roof of her home blew off. He fell face down, injuring his chest.

“The first me a feel them pain here from me on Earth,” he told JN volunteers, pointing across his chest while, at the same time, still assisting other men to re-roof his mother-in-law’s home.

Meanwhile Norris Campbell’s left index finger was badly injured by a door slammed shut by the heavy winds. He too had nothing but hydrogen peroxide to apply to the severe wound that nearly severed his finger. Despite his injury, the elderly man pressed on to help neighbours remove fallen trees from their yard after the storm, which left his other hand swollen.

Duane Ellis, chief executive officer of the more than 100-year-old first-aid response and training organisation, St John Ambulance, commended the tremendous outpouring of response by volunteers from various groups, including JN Group employees, Kiwanis International, youth groups, as well as students from the University of Technology, Jamaica and The University of the West Indies, Mona. The volunteers’ main mission was to gather information on the needs and conditions of people in severely affected areas and recommend those in need for medical assistance to the ambulances staffed by qualified medical professionals.

“The response by volunteers was overwhelming, and, because of that we have been able to conduct a very good information gathering on the needs in these communities, in respect of both the medical and welfare needs, so that targeted assistance can be provided in coordination with the Ministry of Health and Wellness and other agencies,” he said. The data will be used to provide ongoing support as the state and partners work to return normalcy to the communities.

Earl Jarrett, chairman of St John Ambulance and CEO of the JN Group, urged the preservation of survivors’ dignity during the recovery process. “Be empathetic. What you are doing is beyond what is expected,” he reminded volunteers.