AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize Life News Child dead at childbirth: lack of Health Facility

I'm sure your services would be very useful,and I wish you luck in getting approval for working here, however I think it should be pointed out that we do have a practicing OB/GYN surgeon resident on the island. We can always use more! However, as a real priority, we still need an ER and evacuation system for all emergencies, not just obstetrical ones.

American Heart Assoc calls its a "Chain of Survival" You must have all the links together to form a chain.

I have collected medical supplies, transported tehm to the island, built websites, taught many classes, mostly out of my own pocket and a few donations from some very kind folk.

Island ferry is no longer, and Ambergris Caye Emergency Response (ACER) is all but dead.

Why did I start? Even before my first trip to AC, I evaluated the EMS side of care (or lack of) on Ambergris Caye.

I decided that if I planned to spend any time on the island, from vacations to even retiring on Ambergris Caye I need an EMS service in place.

Many will not visit or live, if given a choice where there is no health care.

So sorry to hear about the loss of life.

Does not KH have helo capability? If not, there are ample local (to KH) areas better than Municipal that could be set up for a helo on short notice. Again, coordination...as DDD wrote... it's part of a system.

C2C, a medical helicopter 45 mile trip costs $12,000 US here.

Helicopter medical evacuation would be the most expensive and most time consuming option.

The island needs improved local emergency care and surgical care. Not a stand by extremely expensive medical helicopter. The island could build a surgery / ER facility far cheaper than they could buy, maintain a helicopter.

Hmm, I don't believe the math supports your position. It would take (ball-park) 10 trips with the helo to pay for one ER-qualified MD on call 24/7. Half to 2/3rds that again for one nurse or paramedic and 20 times that or more for the equipment. Two people on call 24/7 would burn out fast as I'm sure you'd recognize.
The numbers for an adequately equipped ER (equipment, personnel, and drugs) are high no matter where you are.
I encourage the existence of an ER but understand that depending on their capability they are not an end-all solution. The typical ER is a gateway to in-patient care. So, a full-fledged hospital makes sense. I'm all for it especially with a population of 20K+. Until then, what have you got? Nada. Sometimes small is more expensive but it serves two purposes: 1) immediate care to the needy and 2) incentive to reduce costs through increased capabilities/economies of scale.

As Nurse Natalie has pointed out, this is not just a lack of persons trained to provide EMS type services or a transport issue. There is a need for a equipped location in which to treat in an emergency 24/hrs a day.

The Polyclinic is centrally located close to the airport and could easily be outfitted to be able to provide a broader range of support services to those trained to provide rescue care / stabilize patients. At this point, the Polyclinic provides little more than Public Health - vaccines, etc. If you toured the facility, it is obvious that the design resembles more of an Emergency Room set up.

However, I believe the issue is that the Polyclinic does not provide on-call services and has very little Physician coverage (if at all). And since the Belize Government "owns" the clinic, they do not currently authorize "on call" private physicians who are not employed by them to use the facilities.

Too bad they can't just credential the Physicians and have their support staff on call to provide access / assist with the Emergency.

There is no paramedic program in Belize that I know of. Starting one would take a huge amount of effort.

The math supports Dr. Tommy's position. Locals and many visitors aren't going to be able to pay for a helicopter trip to the city. Outfitting an EMS equiped helicopter is about $3,000,000+usd for a basic set up in a Long Ranger. Now add in pilots, nurse and maintenance costs. And lets not forget an operating certificate from civil aviation. The GOB is not going to pay towards a helicopter program.

Unfortunately the GOB didn't support the BATSUB issue. Goodbye equiped helicopter. But that's an entire new thread.

A samll set up in the Lions Poly Clinic would work. Dr. Danny at Ambergris Hope Clinic has a set up for operating.

The big issue is getting the first responders all on the same page, packaging the patient for transport to a recieving facility of some type and stabilizing, evaluating and then transporting to the city if needed.

Yes of course a 24/7 ER type facility is the first step to having a hospital which we need. Yes we have been offered the help to establish and maintain an ER facility repeatedly and the government has never acted on it, political reasons I guess. Maybe this time they will listen. We will also need an emergency medical evacuation system, not one or the other. If Municipal had emergency runway lights Wings of Hope could provide service. They are trained and equipped. Possibly each of the towns should have emergency runway lights. It solves a lot of problems. Our ones in San Pedro were donated by Wings of Hope.
And no I dont need a committee to tell me what to do to take care of this right now. We have more meetings and committees than any place and nothing gets done. Put lights at Municipal emergency lights now, not after we study the situation some more. Let Wings of Hope roll. Tropic and Maya can help but of course are not obligated to but that is what Wings of Hope does. Runway lights would allow any of the three to operate in an emergency at night.
To be any kind of plan it must have redundancy which is not possible with rotary wing. Rich man can still call Astrum if he wants.

I repeat I am not talking about buying a helicopter and I agree with Mike this place has so many committees, groups, meetings that accomplish nothing that it is truly amazing. Do what Mike says and do it now!

I am in good, if obese, health and 64 years old and I would never consider living here full time if I were not able to afford to call Astrum or whomever.

What will you do if you have a heart attack and Gustavo is flying tourists down in Placencia or Cayo?

Using the local fixed wing operators is a much better solution.
But first we need a system to get medical attention to you and then you to a receiving facility or the airport. (Not wishing anything bad on you Martin:) just using you as an example)