Dear Sir,
I took my seven-year-old son to the Bustamante Hospital for Children at approximately 8:00 pm on Holy Thursday because of headache and fever. At 6:00 pm on Good Friday he was finally confirmed with meningitis and was admitted to a ward — a whopping 22 hours after arriving.
Fortunately for us, our nine-year-old, who had the same symptoms, only had to wait eight hours the following day before being admitted to a different ward at the hospital. It was quite an experience to have your two children at the same hospital on different wards.
My point of writing, however, is that somewhere around 2:00 am on Good Friday morning, while I sat outside the ward waiting, I wondered what would happen if I saw smoke coming from the roof of one of the buildings. The adult population at that hour appears to be 99 per cent female, which includes doctors, nurses, ancillary staff, security guards, and parents. What would happen to the children who were confined to beds and not able to move? Where would everybody assemble? There was so much to consider at the time.
Then I thought of what I would do as a first responder. I looked around for alarm panels, but there were none. On second thought it made sense not to have a loud siren awakening children at that hour; it would only lead to panic and chaos. I did see a fire hydrant in front of the ward, but could not locate where the valve or the special wrench for opening it was located. I did not see the hoses, either. It sort of felt scary.
I became somewhat relieved when I realised that the JDF Up Park Camp was next door, with probably thousands of soldiers asleep. I sincerely hope that whatever response plan exists for such an eventuality, whether day or night, it will involve hundreds of soldiers flooding the facility, some to immediately take on the fire while others will help to secure the children and other critical equipment and assets. Having alarm panels installed at the hospital, with special sirens that go off at the JDF, seems like a good idea to me.
Throughout the days as I walked from the wards to the parking lot I observed the readiness of the facility and there definitely is some work to be done in that critical area of safety.
Keith Whyte
klwhyte@yahoo.com
A nightmare waiting to happen
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I took my seven-year-old son to the Bustamante Hospital for Children at approximately 8:00 pm on Holy Thursday because of headache and fever. At 6:00 pm on Good Friday he was finally confirmed with meningitis and was admitted to a ward — a whopping 22 hours after arriving.
Fortunately for us, our nine-year-old, who had the same symptoms, only had to wait eight hours the following day before being admitted to a different ward at the hospital. It was quite an experience to have your two children at the same hospital on different wards.
My point of writing, however, is that somewhere around 2:00 am on Good Friday morning, while I sat outside the ward waiting, I wondered what would happen if I saw smoke coming from the roof of one of the buildings. The adult population at that hour appears to be 99 per cent female, which includes doctors, nurses, ancillary staff, security guards, and parents. What would happen to the children who were confined to beds and not able to move? Where would everybody assemble? There was so much to consider at the time.
Then I thought of what I would do as a first responder. I looked around for alarm panels, but there were none. On second thought it made sense not to have a loud siren awakening children at that hour; it would only lead to panic and chaos. I did see a fire hydrant in front of the ward, but could not locate where the valve or the special wrench for opening it was located. I did not see the hoses, either. It sort of felt scary.
I became somewhat relieved when I realised that the JDF Up Park Camp was next door, with probably thousands of soldiers asleep. I sincerely hope that whatever response plan exists for such an eventuality, whether day or night, it will involve hundreds of soldiers flooding the facility, some to immediately take on the fire while others will help to secure the children and other critical equipment and assets. Having alarm panels installed at the hospital, with special sirens that go off at the JDF, seems like a good idea to me.
Throughout the days as I walked from the wards to the parking lot I observed the readiness of the facility and there definitely is some work to be done in that critical area of safety.
Keith Whyte
klwhyte@yahoo.com
A nightmare waiting to happen
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