By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

A LONG Island woman fighting for her life was carried to an air ambulance on the back of a flatbed truck in pouring rain on Monday, sparking outrage that ambulances on the island remained parked and unused.

Relatives of Brenda Wells, who suffers from multiple myeloma, said she cried out in pain as they lifted her from the Deadman’s Cay Clinic and onto the truck, holding her oxygen tank as rain drenched her frail body. Her son, Colin Wells, said staff told him the island’s ambulance could not be used because no one on duty could drive standard shift and no key was available.

The Nassau-bound aircraft was called mid-afternoon but did not arrive until nearly 6pm. Friends and family said they were forced to do everything themselves: finding a truck, carrying Mrs Wells to the airport, and lifting her aboard the plane.

Residents described the scene as heartbreaking and undignified. One witness said people at the airport were left in tears watching the patient arrive soaked. Voice notes circulating among Long Island residents condemned the situation as “shameful”, with many accusing officials of standing by while a woman in critical condition was treated like cargo.

The incident has renewed anger about longstanding gaps in emergency care on the Family Islands. Although residents said two ambulances have been stationed on Long Island for years, neither is operational.

Long Island MP Adrian Gibson said the vehicles have never been put into service because trained emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and designated drivers were never assigned. He recalled that his own uncle was transported in the back of a truck after a fatal accident in 2011.

“No Long Islander should have to face that kind of indignity in 2025 when ambulances are sitting idle,” he said yesterday, again urging the government to immediately hire EMTs and drivers.

Mr Gibson said, in collaboration with Aliv, one of the ambulances was donated during his first term but was never formally accepted by staff, who he claimed feared losing their jobs if they agreed to take responsibility for it. Photos now circulating on social media show the vehicles overgrown by grass.

This latest case mirrors an incident earlier this year in Exuma, when residents were forced to place an American tourist with devastating injuries from a boat accident into the back of a truck after waiting nearly an hour for help that never arrived. At the time, residents blasted the lack of emergency services as a danger to both locals and visitors.

Concerns have previously been raised about the new fleet of ambulances imported from Spain. Several National Emergency Medical Services staff told The Tribune last year that the vehicles were too small for larger patients and trauma cases and that all were manual transmission, limiting who could drive them.

That same problem surfaced on Long Island this week. Relatives of Mrs Wells said staff told them the island’s ambulance could not be used because nobody on duty could drive stick shift and, in any event, the key was unavailable. One cousin even volunteered to drive but was reportedly turned away. A Long Island resident shared a video of the ambulance showing chairs still covered in plastic wrap, suggesting it hadn’t been used.

At the time of the Spain purchase, EMTs warned that fewer than ten responders were qualified to operate the vehicles. Health Minister Dr Michael Darville still defended the purchase, saying standard shift ambulances were cheaper to maintain and widely used globally.

Officials at the Ministry of Health and the Public Hospitals Authority did not respond to requests for comment up to press time.