Tonight, the Belize Defense Force is making final preparations to bury Lance Corporal Roxannie Goff Hill. She was killed in a high-impact vehicle collision on the George Price Highway last Thursday night.
After discussions with Hill's family, the BDF will bestow on her the honor of a military funeral.
Lance Corporal Hill was among a group of soldiers in the BDF's transit van when they collided with a Toyota Forerunner. She was the only one who had fatal injuries, but her colleagues suffered varying degrees of injuries. One of them is now in need of surgery for a broken femur, and at this time, the BDF is asking the public to support this officer with the blood donations he will need for the medical procedure.
This morning the BDF's acting Chief of Staff told us about the hardship facing this soldier:
Lieutenant Colonel Jermaine Burns - Acting BDF Chief Of Staff
"Thus far, 6 of the eight have been released into the care of the BDF, and some to their families with more minor injuries. They're two soldiers, whose name I don't have on hand, one with the femur that I spoke about - who damaged his femur, and the other with some cuts and abrasions which have been sorted out already. The one with the femur, though, is the soldier who requires negative blood. Any negative class blood would work, and we're appealing to the public for assistance with that. In our numbers, in the BDF, we only have 13 guys with that class of blood. And out of the 13, we've only managed to get about four units thus far. We have a civilian who has donated, and so we have the fifth unit. We're appealing for about three more units for that soldier before he can take surgery. His surgery is not as urgent, but it's a broken femur. He needs the surgery, and he would require those pints of blood."
Lieutenant Colonel Burns also discussed the ongoing emotional support that the military is providing to the recovering soldiers. These are the co-workers of Lance Corporal Hill, who were also in the van at the time of the accident. He said that they are currently being looked after by the BDF's wellness team:
Lieutenant Colonel Jermaine Burns - Acting BDF Chief Of Staff
"Just Monday, there was a counselor who came from the EAP program within the Government that saw two groups, two individual groups, and [as] you would imagine, these are females who bulk of those who were seen in this very building. They were seen for an entire day, counseled, and then the BDF wellness team took over that counseling. That's going to be an ongoing process. The grieving process has a couple of stages that they'll be going through. But, I'm happy to report that the females within BDF have garnered the strength to bury their own tomorrow in the Double Head Cabbage area."
"The BDF is conducting the entire ceremony. The process is normally, we would engage the family, and if the family agrees to a complete honorable burial by the BDF, then we go ahead and do just that. That is what the family has agreed to."
