Freak accidents happen daily all over the world, and can occur in a heartbeat. On a small island like Bequia, one has to be careful; we DO have an ambulance, but our medical facilities are extremely limited. A trip across the channel to the Milton Cato hospital is no joke, especially when a life-threatening emergency is the cause.
Whenever the ambulance passes our house with its siren howling I stop whatever I am doing, wondering which direction it will take. This past Sunday the ambulance headed with speed up the Mount Pleasant Road, and I of course worried about whoever it would be carrying back down the hill. Bequia’s community isn’t very large, so chances were good I would know the occupant of the ambulance or at least know members of his or her family, and mentally crossed my fingers and wished the person well.
Today I discovered that I DID know who the siren was blaring for on Sunday, Colin Peters had been rushed to the hospital due to a freak accident that could have ended a lot worse than it DID. Colin leaned up against a porch railing, a railing that was not firmly attached to the porch, and unfortunately suffered a terrible fall. He tumbled five feet onto a bed of fist-sized stones, and lay on the ground unconscious while the ambulance was called. The accident happened in a heartbeat and that’s all it takes; one moment life can seem perfect, the next moment life can change drastically. Thankfully Colin did not suffer any broken bones, but he DID have to make that dreaded trip to the mainland while in excruciating pain for the necessary x-rays. Colin is evidently badly bruised and uncomfortable but will heal, and I hope he realizes how lucky he is!
We didn’t always have the luxury of an ambulance, a luxury that would have come in handy when my mother leaned against the porch gate of a house Mac and I were renting! Mom suffered a horrifying compound fracture, her foot was literally dangling from her leg, and we had to remove the wooden kitchen door to serve as a stretcher.
Back then there was no little coast guard boat either, she had to be transported across the channel at night in an open pirogue, certainly not an ideal way to get medical attention! Mom’s fall happened in a heartbeat, a freak accident that changed her life forever. From that moment onwards my mother, who very nearly lost her foot, never walked without pain, all because of a gate that hadn’t been properly latched.
Another freak accident that ended badly was the fall Dr. Gun-Munroe took from his house porch at Spring; one moment he was leaning against the railing, the next moment life as he knew it came to a sad end. Sir Sydney, a surgeon by profession and the country’s first Governor-General, was a gentle, loving and humble man who certainly didn’t deserve the fate dealt to him courtesy of a broken railing. Dr. Gun-Munroe plunged 15 feet down, landing on top of his parked car and, although the car halted his fall somewhat, he suffered several broken ribs and a badly damaged spine. The spinal damage caused paralysis, and as a result Sir Sydney never walked again. This good man’s life was changed in a heartbeat because of a single freak accident.
When Mac built our home at Belmont I liked all the porches, but grew to fear them as well! The house sits high above the ground, and a tumble from any one of the porches would be, at least in my opinion, fatal. The railings are made of wood, wood that swells during the wet season, contracts during the dry season and is subject to the trials and tribulations of aging. Years ago, Nik and I had a party and nearly lost our good friend Tom Hopman when he perched on top of one of the porch railings.
Luckily, Hodge Taylor was seated nearby and quickly grabbed Tom’s leg, a lucky grab that may well have saved his life. That incident frightened me, enough that when my grandchildren were toddlers I stressed whenever they went anywhere near the porches.
The thought of the wee ones toppling from such a height gave me nightmares, I would never have been able to forgive myself if they fell! Freak accidents can and DO happen, and I have witnessed the perils of porch railings on this island WAY too often. Bequia is NOT the place to experience the trauma resulting from a fall, it’s important to make sure the railing is well attached to the porch before leaning against it! Freak accidents happen in a heartbeat, and can change your life forever.
