Kim Johnson-Rolle
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Senior Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
LLOYDRA Cash-Bowleg, the daughter of the Bimini woman who died from COVID-19, said she did not watch Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ press conference on Wednesday because she does not expect a full and frank disclosure about why her mother was not helped in time.
“I didn’t watch it because I knew they are not going to be completely open and honest with anything at this time,” she said yesterday. “More information needs to be provided.”
The death of Kim Johnson-Rolle has sparked concerns about the readiness of Family Islands for COVID-19 after it took some 24-hours to get her from Bimini, where she began experiencing respiratory distress, to New Providence, where she died soon after arrival.
Dr Franklyn Walkine, CEO of AAS Life Flight Air Ambulance Services, said through a representative yesterday that he is awaiting the result of the investigation that Dr Minnis mentioned during Wednesday’s press conference.
According to The Nassau Guardian, Dr Walkine said there were no isolation (ISO) chambers in the country to safely transport Mrs Johnson-Rolle to New Providence. The containment chamber is used to transport infected people. Dr Walkine reportedly said the company will have the needed equipment to transfer patients going forward.
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force ultimately air-lifted Mrs Johnson-Rolle and a medical team to New Providence.
But Mrs Cash-Bowleg, 37, said yesterday in response: “They said they are prepared. Wasn’t that supposed to be the preparedness? If you are prepared, how come you don’t have what you need?”
As her family frantically tried to get her mother off Bimini, Mrs Cash-Bowleg said the lack of an ISO chamber was never identified to them as an obstacle.
“The contact we figured they would have with us was not there,” she said.
She doesn't think her island is ready for the pandemic.
“We don’t have that sense of security from what we have been hearing and listening to and we aren’t hearing what we need to hear,” she said.
“We need to hear that living on this island, if an emergency arises, with this air shutdown going on, there is a way to get us off this island no matter what. Suppose someone needs to be treated for something? There is no security right now. It’s (already) difficult when you have a clinic that don’t have this, don’t have that, but this situation just makes everything worse.
“We're just trying to grieve and get to another day.”
Mrs Cash-Bowleg said she and her other family members are now in quarantine.
They were told to take vitamins and were given a temperature reading device. Someone from the clinic, she said, calls twice a day to find out their temperature reading.
However, she said despite the close contact she and others had with her mother, none of the family members have been tested for COVID-19. So far, none of them have shown symptoms of the disease.
“We would like to be tested,” she said. “We’ve heard nothing on that yet but we had close contact with her. We’re not afraid, though, because we believe in the God that my mom served and that He will keep us.”
Comments
mandela 4 years, 8 months ago
I like the powerful quote from Mrs. Cash-Bowleg "If you are prepared, how come you don't have what you need?" it goes without saying that this quote also applies to a wide variety of situations in our daily lives and in this Bahamas where we say we are prepared but don't have what we need.
Well_mudda_take_sic 4 years, 8 months ago
No one will get answers.....that's just how our government operates....even though Minnis promised time and time again during the run up to the last general election in May 2017 that it would be the Bahamian people's time and that his government would be the most transparent one the Bahamian people have ever had.
It's indeed most difficult to trust anything Minnis now says given that those earlier key promises to the Bahamian people were all too quickly broken by him.
birdiestrachan 4 years, 8 months ago
She does not believe what the PM says. because they do not speak TRUTH.
DDK 4 years, 8 months ago
Truth is an unknown quality in the vast majority of politicians.
joeblow 4 years, 8 months ago
... so sorry, the words 'truth' and 'politicians' should not exist in the same sentence, unless highlighting the fact that they cannot speak it!
TigerB 4 years, 8 months ago
I sense it may a finger pointing exercise here, all needs to be reminded that the USA had almost 1200 dies over the past 24 hours... and Spain almost 900 over the past 24 hours.We are just starting. So far we have 3, more to come. I don't think its political at all
ThisIsOurs 4 years, 8 months ago
it's not political. If you have a relative die and you don't believe they should have died. Literally the last thing you're thinking about is that's not my party in power. You looking for answers on why so many things went wrong
BMW 4 years, 8 months ago
Everything is political in this country. That is our biggest problem.
TalRussell 4 years, 8 months ago
Objective, to keep PopoulacesOrdinay in state total ignorance!
Just because comrade governing officials say it ain't so, it doesn't mean that there aren't cabinet documents stamped "TOP SECRET" outlining reason why colony's government's information technology is intentionally lacking.
It's worth reading but that's rendered virtually impossible, considering even list House elected MP's with access is strictly controlled. Nod once for yeah, twice for no?
geostorm 4 years, 8 months ago
It's a very unfortunate situation for this family. My heart goes out to them, but the world can barely keep up with this disease, what do you think about us? This is not the time to play the blame game. Resources are limited, medical personnel are limited and we are in dire straits financially as our largest industry has just taken a big blow.
At this time, we are all going to have to do our part by staying well and following the government's recommendations. If we don't, we will lose more innocent lives. We don't have the capacity to handle this pandemic, so we all need to do our part to stop the spread. This has nothing to do with politics.
joeblow 4 years, 8 months ago
People forget the incompetence Minnis displayed as Minister of Health during the dengue chikungunya virus debacle that caused many deaths in 2011, so I don't know why they expect stellar leadership at this time!
The short memories of Bahamians is what all politicians rely on!
In addition, what else does her family believe they are deserving of? She knowingly went to a Covid-19 zone and got infected. She then developed symptoms while she had asthma and declined rapidly, as people with this virus do. Blaming others for her decision and the consequences of traveling does not change the outcome!
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