Erika victim airlifted for treatment in St Lucia
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Erika victim airlifted for treatment in St Lucia

By TDN Wire Staff
September 24 2015 9:15 P.M

Lazare was airlifted by the Guadeloupe air ambulance service.

Roseau, Dominica (TDN) Four weeks to the day that Tropical Storm Erika wreaked havoc on the island of Dominica Santony Lazare was airlifted by air ambulance to the neighboring island of St Lucia to undergo much needed surgery.

Lazare is lucky to be alive after narrowly escaping death on that fateful Thursday morning. Forced to jump to safety to avoid a crumbling hillside he broke his leg in two places and watched helplessly as his house was taken away by one of the hundreds of mudslides that occurred that morning.

This however was just the beginning of his ordeal. Discovered that same afternoon he was carried to a village health center where he spent two full days without anything more than the comfort of friends and family.

On the morning of the third day after a helicopter sent to transport him experienced engine trouble a group of fire officers took him by foot over several landslides and eventually to the country’s main hospital.

However, his agony did not stop there. Unable to operate because of missing equipment at the hospital, doctors reverted to immobilizing his leg and keeping it suspended while he took pain killers in an effort to lessen the incredible agony.

Eventually however, Parliamentarian Dr Thomson Fontaine intervened and made an appeal to the authorities and those who could help to do something urgently. Help would come in the form of an offer from Dr Arlette Charles Surgeon General of St Lucia following the intervention of a Dominican residing in the Diaspora Kelvin Alexis.

Dr Charles offered to have the much needed operation performed free of charge on the island of St Lucia. At that point, the Rotary Club of Dominica following Dr Fontaine’s appeal offered to pay a substantial part of the EC $16 000 cost of the air ambulance service chartered from Guadeloupe while the government of Dominica paid the balance.

Fontaine was effusive in his praise for the many persons who made this day possible. “Special thanks must go to Dr George and the nurses who cared for Lazare at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), Ms Fabian of the PMH who worked tirelessly on the logistics, Alexis for making contact with St Lucia, the Guadeloupe air ambulance service, the St Lucian government for their intervention, and the Rotary Club and Government of Dominica for providing useful financial assistance,” he noted.

“Thanks must also be extended to Cheryl Francis for offering free accommodation to a member of Lazare’s family in St Lucia, Marah Charles and the United Workers Party for providing financial assistance for incidentals during the stay in St Lucia, and the Lazare family for their support and perseverance” Fontaine added.

While Lazare still has a long way to go to recovery, Fontaine is encouraged by the way in which so many players came together in a humanitarian effort to provide care for one of the scores injured during the passage of Tropical storm Erika.

According to Fontaine, “I’m hopeful that this spirit of cooperation and working towards a common cause will continue in our beautiful country as we seek to rebuild following Erika.”

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