Thank You Sheba
Thank You Sheba
MY condolences to the family....It was only a matter of time til this trajedy happened-i'm so sorry for the poor soul ...
Folks you need to remember-You may stay in a 4-5 star hotel/ai ..but Jam. is still a 3rd world country-..I dont know where the ambulance was-or if it was even working ....and as far as i know the people who operate it are not EMT's...Sav hospital is far off from the avg hospital in the states(as far as care, recources, professional help,medications equipment)....and it certaily does not have a trauma center..
I'm not tryng to dussuade people from going -but you need to the know the facts... ..THats why i cant recommend enough that people get GOOD travel insurance that will med-evac you out of MBJ to Mia... also ,make sure to get the # of the private ambulance company that will take you to Mobay (the ambulance in negril will not take you there -ONLY SAV-and you really dont want to got there if you can avoid it) also good to have an emergency of cash (few hunderd) for the ambulance ride -they dont take credit cards..
I wish more tourist orientated boards would educate people about the realities of medical care available to tourists..Its something important to many people..Just saying that there's an ambualnce in negril and nearby hospital in Sav and not giving more details to the type of facility and service one can expect or not expect is a disservice ...
" Ones destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things." (Henry Miller)
Sorry I missed this post, but to correct some of the misinformation being posted in this thread - here is a part of what I posted back in July of 2013:Originally Posted by suzengrace
"The nearest hospitals are in Sav about a 25 minute drive away, not an hour and a half. Royal Medical probably has the best facilities and are privately run. But they do cost more than the government run public hospital in Sav. The public hospital also has emergency room services that have treated many a friend of mine when they were in a critical accident.
Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay is the one that is 1 and half hours away. They have the best facilities on the western end of the island.
Recently a person fell off the cliffs between Rockhouse and 3 Dives and ended up near the bottom by the sea. The ambulance was there in minutes and the doctor on call originally suggested taking them immediately to Sav for emergency treatment since it was the closest facility. But since they were conscious when the emergency workers got down to them, after speaking directly to the person by cellphone, the doctor asked them a series of questions and determined that they were in good enough condition to head to the Cornwall Hospital in MoBay.
After two days of MRI's and cat-scans and finding no serious damage, they were bandaged up and sent on a plane back home. They were extremely lucky as they had fallen some 25 feet. But the professionalism of the emergency crew and doctor on call made all the difference for them. I witnessed the entire series of events and the Negril rumor mill was in such fast action that by the time I walked back to 3 Dives (about a minute away), it had already been announced that the person had died. So much for the rumor mill... "
So this is coming from a first hand, eyewitnessed perspective, no guessing or speculation required. I know the ambulance has fully trained EMTs and is fully stocked with necessary emergency equipment. I was behind the ambulance and had full view of their equipment as the EMT by the ambulance spoke directly to the doctor on call. They will take you to the hospital that the emergency doctor on call that the EMTs are talking with decide is the best choice since time is a critical factor.
Sav hospital does have an emergency room and is equipped to handle life threatening emergencies. This too I have witnessed first hand when friend was in a motorcycle accident. The services are as one would expect in nearly any rural hospital anywhere. Sav is the capital of Westmoreland but it is far from what anyone would call a "big city" so you cannot expect big city hospital type services.
Also, being a developing country, Jamaica is constantly improving the state of its medical care. The recent donations in December by the NIH Project being the latest in those improvements.
To spread rumor and speculation as well as guesses as fact is a disservice....
Negril.com - For the vacation that never ends!
Completely agree and it is also a disservice if anyone belittles, downplays or otherwise whitewashes any serious incident like an accident, a robbery or any other safety issue that could possibly forewarn a visitor and help them take precautions to prevent the same thing from happening to them.
Money is not the key to happiness, Happiness is!
Ben Franklin
What is the name/number of the private ambulance company?
My friend told me about ambucare-there located allover the island-but are not stationed in Negril…none--the less they are more what you expect a professional ambulance to be and their website says they take debit/credit cards..
You can email them and ask about response times to negril and costs…..heres their website www.ambucareja.com and their mobay # 876-953-2938
I would hope someone who lives there would know what private ambulance is used most and would respond to your question…
" Ones destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things." (Henry Miller)
I have a good friend who has the largest jet ski and boat rental operation in St. Augustine. 20 - 25 skis on any given day.
Here are the regulations:
1. Riders must go thru a quick review of safety procedures and designated riding areas
2. Riders under 18 take a short written exam that gets then the required certification to run a watercraft
3. The rental operation must have an employee on a ski with a radio in the riding area to enforce the riding area and no wake zonesrequirements.
A bit too regulated for Jamaica?
Linston's Zion Hill Taxi
Captain Dave
That's a loaded question!
You'll find tourists that will say it's too regulated & some tourists say it's not regulated enough.....????
It's always the same balancing act between the "capital of casual" being interpreted by the visitors as anything goes and trying to have some kind common sense regulations.
Back when I had the boats we didn't even need insurance or any sort of license. But Negril was a tenth of what it is today.
Tourist business "no easy"
Linston's Zion Hill Taxi
Captain Dave
I wanted to be clear that I was in no way curious about the name of the hotel to lay any blame on that property owner. I wanted to picture in my mind where this happened. I have read several statements made to the media over the past few months from hotel owners saying that it was going to take serious injury for both horses and jet skis to be better regulated on the beach. The hotel owners were clearly concerned. i am just so very sad that it came to this.
In Loving Memory of William 'Bunny Rugs' Clarke, Lead Singer of Third World:
"There's a land not so far away/Where the sun keep shinning all through the day/And this land that we all love/God gave us the wood and the water/Blessed by the moon and stars above/Sweet, sweet Jamaica/Beautiful Jamaica/Everyday feels like a holiday/Sweet reggae music playing/From Negril to Morant Bay/Sweet, sweet Jamaica/Oh Jamaica/Irie, irie, irie Jamaica/Sweet Jamaica our land we love"
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