It has been five days and thirteen year old student Jaheed Ahmad remains on life support at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. He is one of four persons badly injured during Monday morning's collision on the Western Highway. In that accident, traffic warden Carolyn Rowland and her eight year old daughter Twyla Monique Jones lost their lives. The mother who was trapped inside the vehicle behind the driver's wheel is believed to have died on impact while the child succumbed to her injuries on arrival at the KHMH.
The Belize City Traffic Department who is now dealing with the case report that the matter is still under investigation and at this time it is still not determined who or what caused the deadly crash. Because it was raining heavily at the time it is believed the weather may have contributed to the accident. Initial investigation reveal that Carolyn Rowland had four children inside her ford explorer, her three daughters Twyla, Tyra and Toria Jones and Jaheed Ahmad a student who was offered a ride by the family. The Ford Explorer was travelling from Hattieville Village to Belize City but as the SUV passed through miles nine it collided into a Dodge Ram driven at the time by Edward Martinez. The pickup truck was travelling in the opposite direction towards Belmopan. The impact extensively damaged both vehicles. Edward Martinez is reportedly still hospitalized.
The deadly road accident is just one of many to have occurred in just over a month in the New Year. So today when the sound of sirens were heard on the north side of Belize City and bodies were seen lying on the ground beside two crashed vehicles many in the area of Princess Margaret Drive rushed to the scene to what they believe to be yet another deadly accident. But was it? Today I visited the scene to find out what all the commotion was about.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
This was the scene at the corner of St. Thomas and Princess Margaret Drive. At first the nervous spectators who had gathered by the round about did not know what to make of it but the sight of blood, badly injured persons on the ground and several more in a wrecked car and ford pickup truck made many uncomfortable as it appeared there was a fatal traffic accident.
Sgt. Raymond Berry from the police investigation unit says the location is one of the busiest intersections in Belize City where they have responded to many incidents that occur because drivers are simply at a loss as to what to do at this particular junction.
Sgt. Raymond Berry, Investigation Unit – Traffic Police
"The area where you see the roundabout is now causes a little chaos to some drivers who really don't know about the roundabout. Today what happened is the car coming out of Princess Margaret Drive was driving over to St. Thomas Street and at the same time there was a pickup coming down from Princess Margaret Drive going up. As a result the car was speeding up trying to beat
the pickup and they collided. As a result the car ended up on the bonnet of the pickup causing one man from the pickup to be thrown out and he died on the spot and the other three were injured."
And as real as the crash and injuries looked there was no real tragedy. It was all part of a mass casualty exercise that only a few knew about and that is why many people's emotions were real when they came upon the scene.
Jacqueline Godwin,
As you approached the location and you saw the bodies on the ground and the extensive damage, what went through your mind?
Philip Willoughby, Belize City Emergency Coordinator
"Real time situation but again for us as emergency coordinators within NEMO, the last real event was the one on the Northern Highway. These things, it is just a matter of when, not how and why and hour and location - just when and as quickly as we can respond to save lives as number one priority we do that."
Javier Canul, EMT/Education Coordinator – BERT
"This is my third simulation that I have coordinated and I was expecting that. We can't run away from that. But we want people to know that this is able to happen and that is the reason we have it here. So all these things we are expecting. It is expected that people will cry. As a matter of fact I had a lady was praying and I had to go up to her and I could see then concern on her face and said to her it is okay and it is only a simulation. She said to leave her alone because she is an evangelist and I said it is only a simulation and she said, ‘mein you guys,' and then she walked off. I expect these types of things. It will happen."
Rose Patnett, Witness to Simulation Exercise
"I just came out and I saw all the blood down there and I saw that vehicle mashed up and there where two ambulances so I thought somebody really got hurt bad. My heart just skipped a beat like something tragic happened. The first thing I thought was probably it was some thing to do with the roundabout or something like that."
Alexander Ellis, 1st Form Student – SJC
"Sometimes cars are going fast and I don't they really have order out here so we have to be more careful."
Jacqueline Godwin,
What you saw you thought it was real?
Alexander Ellis,
"Yes ma'am."
Jacqueline Godwin,
How scared did you get?
Alexander Ellis,
‘A little because I've already experience it so it wasn't all that frightening."
Jacqueline Godwin,
What you mean, you were in an accident?
Alexander Ellis,
"No ma'am, I just like see crashes before, that's all."
Jacqueline Godwin,
So what advice you have for drivers?
Alexander Ellis,
"Just pay attention to what they are doing and be more careful."
Sgt. Raymond Berry,
"My advice to pedestrians is to always walk on the sidewalk and never walk on the street if possible. Drivers, I always try to inform, especially around the roundabout, they should know the rules of the road. Always give the person to your left way to go first, on major roads and around the roundabout. The person to her left always has the right of way so they should always stop and give that person the right of way. In this exercise today what shows is that the pickup should have given the car way but he didn't and that's what caused this accident today."
And although it was just an exercise there are always risks during simulations and that became evidently clear when n the unexpected happen.
Javier Canul,
"The car was set on top of the truck and the patient who was inside, the car was in gear so it couldn't move and the patient inside touched
the gears and the car rolled off and so I've learnt that there needs to be more safety involved for guys. Besides that, everybody did a perfect job; a wonderful job. We learn from our mistakes."
The exercise tested the readiness and capability of all parties to respond quickly to emergencies.
Yvette Burkes, Executive Director – BERT
"Jackie more and you all report everyday, every night unfortunately about these horrible accidents we're facing, the different trauma type cases, even the bombing, the grenade situation the other day. A mass casualty is defined by something that exceeds your capacity and in Belize we don't have that much in terms of resources so it is important for us to be realistic and try to do the best we can with what we do have."
As the emergency medical technicians, police, traffic and the crash, rescue and fire team worked feverishly on the scene to retrieve those persons who were trapped inside their vehicles and badly injured on the ground every move they made was closely evaluated.
Yvette Burkes,
"And that is the whole point of it. We needed to evaluate what our
weaknesses. Every time we respond to a horrible incident, whether it is the one with the tourists the other day, the 18 patients out there with the bad roads and everything, we observed weaknesses and there is nobody like us to acknowledge those weaknesses and say what can we do better. What can we do to help us save that next life and that next quality of life to make our response better. One of those things is to work with our partners. We need the participation of the police, the traffic, and everybody else for us to perform properly and so do they. They need us and so this is a team effort so that we can consider what ways we can help each other in and what we can tighten up on to make our response better."
The exercise not only tested the capabilities of the rescue medical teams but it also gave the public a first hand view of what takes place on the scene of any mass casualty.
Javier Canul,
"So everybody can see the collaboration of all the units which involve the traffic officers, the traffic police, the Fire Department – we want everybody to see how we work as unit."
Jacqueline Godwin,
And we do know that this intersection is very busy and there have been many accidents here.
Javier Canul,
"That's right and that was one of the chief reasons why we chose this intersection. We need to let the proper authorities do their job. We need the police for crowd control. We need the traffic officers to slow down the traffic. We need the medics to get in there and work. We need the Fire Department to rescue anybody if they are trapped and we encourage the public to work with us as medics but we don't want them to go in and take control. Leave it to the professionals, my guys, my colleagues – we are all trained. We are trained to a standard where we know exactly what to do."
The simulation was held in memory of traffic warden Carolyn Rowland and her eight year old daughter Twyla Monique Jones who both lost their lives five days ago in a terrible collision.
Javier Canul,
"Our crew was already there, they got in there and did what they were supposed to do but we were seeing people moving the little girl with the femur fracture. There was a back and forth with patients that shouldn't have happened. In general we like to encourage the public to do not move the patient unless ordered by a doctor or somebody who is trained to move that patient. If you move the patient and the person is not trained you can create more complication, more injuries for this person. Work with us, don't go ahead and work without us because you can create more problems than you are helping. One of the best things to do for somebody who was on a scene at an accident is to stay with them, touch them nicely on the shoulder and say it is okay, we've called the ambulance, what is your name, do you have a number you want me to call. That is the best thing you can do if you are not trained in this area."
It was two years ago that thee Belize Emergency Response Team, held a simulation exercise.
We hope that today's exercise has motivated you to be careful when driving. As noted in the story, the mass casualty simulation exercise was held in memory of traffic warden Carolyn Rowland and eight year old Twyla Monique Jones. On Saturday both mother and daughter will be laid to rest following a funeral service.
