Buildings don't save people
I keep thinking about Bucky Sprauve.
He collapsed at a basketball game in Virgin Gorda. His friends- people who loved him- rushed him to the clinic. The Nurse Iris O'Neal Medical Centre. The one they built for us.
The building was there. Lights on. But when they got to the door... a security guard. No doctor. No nurse. Closed. He died the next day.
I don't know how to make sense of that. The clinic opened in 2020. They had the ribbon-cutting. They made the speeches. And the second floor? Never opened. Six years now. Six years that floor sat empty while the roof leaked and the water came through.
Now they have a tent out there. A tent. That's where Virgin Gorda goes for healthcare now.
Someone told me last week that not one elevator was working at the hospital. Not one. I think about the elderly. The ones who can't take stairs. What are they supposed to do? The emergency room keeps running out of supplies. Our nurses leave for Cayman - they pay nearly double what we offer here. Can you blame them? Ninety per cent of the nurses in our system now are from overseas. Our own people can't afford to stay.
An oncologist - one doctor in private practice - diagnosed almost 400 cancer cases in four years. Four years. In a place this small, that should alarm somebody. When they asked if the government would study why... the answer was no. No study planned. I don't understand that. I really don't.
They find money for things. They always do. Festival. Concerts. The things that feel good for a weekend. But Bucky is gone. And the clinic roof still leaks. And the elevators still don't work. And I'm tired of pretending this is normal.
I used to think that if we just waited, if we just trusted, things would get better. I don't know what I think anymore. But I know this - buildings don't save people.
Bucky's friends carried him to a building. The building was there. He still died.
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19 Responses to “Buildings don't save people”
The treasury screams to be fed, the cruise ships only feed the treasury, not much else, Financial Services feeds the treasury, real tourism (not the cruise ships) feeds the treasury... WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?!?
Kye Rymer has been Minister of Works for what, 6 years? His greatest accomplishment was scheduling road closures on both the roads leading from Road Town to East End at the same time.
Things that make you say "Hmmmm?" - I saw a sign posted at the entry to a marina on Tortola the other day, "Throw all 13 out!"
We should be advocating for better healthcare and everything else we need as a modern functioning society.
Where is the facilites unit and the head of that unit that are suppose to ensure that the building is safe and operating at optimal level for staff and patients? Where's the preventative maintenance plan that suppose to be in place to ensure that regular maintenance are done.
Ask your self how long must this kind of treatment be given? Their is nothing they can come up with to change the hearts and mind of the people. Very Very poor work performance and trust me the 2026 you will see them and hear them. All the hell and thunder they put these people of the territory through they will be at our door steps again begging. 3 years we begging for help even with simple little things to no avail. The level of care is missing, Key ingredient to the way forward. 4 atlarge gone in their shell no help to the territory.
I’m from far away, though here a while now. Standards; how low can we go? How low?
Ask yourselves this; if we are honest and look around the entire government infrastructure over the past 10-15 years, have you seen genuine investment in anything where it comes to maintenance and upgrading? Look how long it takes anything to be comeplted! Admin building, HLSCC in a mess, schools, roads and I can go on and on. Partially finishing ANYTHING and sell it as completed; what do you all expect?!!?