Blood donation drive on in support of Canadian visitor injured in Treasure Beach road crash

Residents of Treasure Beach (expatriates and locals)  mobilised on Monday to donate blood urgently needed for surgery to be performed on Frank Stewart, a long-stay Canadian visitor who was badly injured in a crash on Saturday.

Mr Stewart’s wife, Janice (65), died at hospital, hours after the horrific two-vehicle collision on the Treasure main road, near the Sandy Bank intersection.

Mr Stewart, 70, who suffered extensive injuries, requires the blood donations as soon as possible to guarantee his surgery, having been transferred to Kingston's University Hospital of the West Indies. 

Members of the community, mobilising through an extensive stakeholders network, and social media platforms, organized trips to the Blood Bank's unit at Mandeville Public Hospital to facilitate easy access for persons wishing to donate blood.

Interested persons in Kingston are being urged to do the same at Blood Bank outlets there as well.

According to the police, about 4:30 Saturday afternoon, the Stewarts were traveling on a scooter, being driven by the husband, when there was a collision with a motor car, traveling in the opposite direction.

The scooter then crashed into a nearby light pole, leaving the couple badly injured. Both of them were taken to hospital where Mrs. Stewart succumbed to her injuries.

Healthcare service

Meanwhile, this fatal crash has fueled further concern regarding the absence of a healthcare facility for Treasure Beach and its immediate environs.

Local hotelier and proprietor of Jakes Hotel, Jason Henzell, who took the gravely injured couple to hospital on Saturday, admittied that he was "sad and emotional."

Such emotions added to his sense of the urgent call to action, however, as he stressed the importance of addressing the healthcare deficiency by fast-forwarding the establishment of a clinic, "not that that would have saved them, but it just shows the importance... when you are dealing with community development, health and how to train first responders, is a critical pillar of that."

Road safety

Henzell also cited the urgent wider national need to install speed reduction devices at strategic points on roadways, "especially in school zones, blind corners and on hills." 

There's need for a "nation-wide policy on introducing rubble sticks and speed bumps to these danger spots across the country," he said adding that this call has the support of the National Road Safety Council and many officials of the state and the private sector. 

"We really need to know that we can make a difference in slowing the traffic down on the road decreasing unnecessary deaths on the road," he told Radio Jamaica News, ending with an appeal for broad-based societal support for this initiative.