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Two of the burn victims from the explosion at a Guardsman garage on South Camp Road in May, who were sent to the United States for specialist treatment, returned to the island yesterday.
Their treatment was facilitated through the Burn Foundation of Jamaica and Crisis Support Charity.
Fabian Brown, an employee of Guardsman Group, was in good spirits as he arrived at the University Hospital of the West Indies, UHWI, saying they had received “good… professional and thorough treatment.”
He added that “if not for that, then I would not have made it. And I'm very glad that I was brought overseas by the Burn Foundation and Trinity Airlines in order to receive that treatment.”
“If not for them, I would not be here today,” he affirmed.
The other employee, Richard McPherson, was happy to be back in Jamaica to see his family. He expressed appreciation for the care he has received.
Brown and McPherson will undergo therapy treatment at the UHWI.
Mr Brown acknowledged that Jamaican’s burn treatment system is not as advanced as what currently obtained in theUnited States but expressed confidence that the follow-up therapeutic treatment that he and colleague will receive at the University Hospital of the West Indies will be “as professional… as possible.”
Mr Brown will have to undergo continuous treatment for some time as he currently has no mobility in his left foot.
He received burns to more than 50 per cent of his body and he expects the treatment to last at least two years.
Brown and McPherson were the only survivors of the May 27 blast at a garage on South Camp Road, in which four men were injured.
The accidental fire occurred adjacent to Guardsman Group-Beryllium headquarters.
November return
Meanwhile, Stephen Josephs of the Burn Foundation of Jamaica and Crisis Support Charity, has confirmed that the men will return to the United States later this year for follow-up treatment, having already undergone a combined 18 surgeries.
They are scheduled to return to the United States for further treatment in November.
“It's a partnership. Jamaica and the UHWI has the capability in terms of the occupational therapy, the physiotherapy, and so it's a partnership between institutions, he explained in an interview with TVJ’s Kirk Wright.”
He described this mission as the most ambitious rescue every undertaken in the Caribbean “in terms of the success and burn hospitals around the world and university is studying the success of the outcomes… in terms of logistics, coordination, patient care.”
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