By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PROBLEMS with healthcare delivery in the Family Islands were laid bare yesterday after nurses in Abaco staged a sick-out over conditions at the Marsh Harbour Healthcare Centre while a Bimini patient was transported in the back of a truck during heavy rain.

A nurse was recorded holding an umbrella over a patient in the back of a truck while preparing to transport the person to a ferry bound for South Bimini, where the patient was to be airlifted to New Providence.

“Yeah, we have to hold the umbrella over the patient,” the nurse said in the video. “It’s that bad.”

Meanwhile, nurses at the Marsh Harbour Healthcare Centre in Abaco staged a sick-out after more than a year of complaints about conditions that they said include mould, a non-functional air-conditioning system, faulty toilets, no hot water and limited medical supplies.

Video shared with The Tribune showed mould-covered ceilings, wet floors and buckets positioned throughout the facility to catch leaks.

Abaco nurse Lashawn Johnson defended the sick-out in a social media post, saying nurses should not have to sacrifice their health to keep a broken system functioning.

Mrs Johnson said the $12m Marsh Harbour facility was built to operate as a proper healthcare centre but had been plagued by staff shortages, inadequate supplies and equipment, poor ventilation, toilets that do not flush, mould and leaking ceilings.

“Please don’t tell us how much nurses are ‘valued’ while continuing to ignore the conditions we are working under,” Mrs Johnson said. “Value us with action. Hire enough staff. Provide adequate services.”

She said nurses were not seeking special treatment, but the basic conditions needed to do their jobs safely.

The Bimini incident prompted outrage from Bahamas Nurses Union president Muriel Lightbourn, who said residents deserve basic healthcare services and called for the island’s ambulances to be repaired.

“You already sick. You already compromised,” Mrs Lightbourn said. “Could you imagine having to be placed on the back of a truck to get to to seek medical help? Come on now.”

Mrs Lightbourn said she had been informed that two ambulances have been parked outside the island’s clinic for more than a year but remain non-operational.

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said he has instructed a maintenance team from New Providence to travel to Bimini to assess both vehicles.

He said one ambulance is brand new and may need new batteries, while the other was donated. He assured residents that someone would be on the ground this week to determine the problem.

Dr Darville also revealed that Cabinet has approved the purchase of ten additional ambulances.

The Bimini incident mirrors cases in Exuma and Long Island last year in which patients were transported to air ambulances in the back of trucks.

Bimini and Berry Islands MP Randy Rolle acknowledged the latest incident and reiterated his commitment to restoring ambulance services on the island.

Mr Rolle said he understood nurses’ frustration but cautioned healthcare workers about protecting patients’ privacy.

“The attention generated by social media should never overshadow our common goal,” he said, “which is to provide Biminites and all Bahamians with the dignity, compassion and quality healthcare they deserve.”

Mrs Lightbourn defended the nurse who recorded the video and said she would not tolerate suggestions that the worker should be disciplined.

“I can tell you, had she not done her job,” Mrs Lightbourn said, “if she had not gone out there and do what she had to do, guess what? Then she would have been disciplined for abandonment of her duties, so it's like you whatever you do, like there's no win.”

Dr Darville said the sick-out in Abaco, which began Sunday night, affected services, although the number of nurses who called in was unclear.

He said remedial measures had been put in place to ensure residents continued to have access to healthcare and that a contract had been awarded for repairs.

The minister said he sent a team to Abaco last week to assess the facility after becoming aware of the concerns and attributed some of the problems to the centre’s ageing air-conditioning system, which he said had been strained by the heat.

Representatives from the Ministry of Environment are also expected to travel to Abaco to assess air quality.

An assessment conducted in May found the air quality satisfactory, but Dr Darville acknowledged that conditions may have deteriorated since then.

“We’ve seen the pictures of mould,” he said, “and that mould itself is there because of the moisture buildup that does not translate into mould spores throughout the clinic, but that's as result of the moisture.”

Dr Darville said he would await the new air-quality assessment before deciding whether the facility should be temporarily closed.

“I have to wait on the air quality control report,” he said. “That's very important for me because I don't want to put my staff or the community in harm's way.”

He said some nurses had reported that conditions were affecting their health.

“My concern now is I'm trying to determine if we can do the work while the clinic is going on,” Dr Darville said. “That's the logistics how it's going to be done is where I'm at, but it's not that we have not acted.”