I want to say to Belize City Councilor, Ms. Deltrude Hilton, and to the Mayor of Belize City, Mr. Bernard Wagner, and all the other people who have a hand in helping the homeless persons in Belize City, that I pray God blesses you for having a heart and the common sense to do right by people who are in need. It is unconscionable to leave our brother or sister sleeping on a piece of cardboard in the streets.
Just about the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard is that it is a violation of people’s rights to take them off the streets, if that is where they want to be. Heck, there are vagrancy laws, and those must have been on the books for centuries.
People who sleep in the streets are either sick or destitute. I have said, and this is why I am so happy that there is a Ms. Deltrude and a Mayor Wagner, I have said that if I am ever destitute or sick in my head, I wish there are leaders who will take me off the streets and put me in a place where I have my dignity.
I know people who have said that they have a family member who, no matter how hard they try to help them, no matter what they give them, prefer to live on the streets. I say, much respect to those people for trying, but I know that if they had just a little bit more money, they would insist that their loved one sleep in a clean bed under a roof.
Have you ever seen a white man vagranting about since Kohboh? No, and the reason is that those people have money and they will take care of any member of their family who develops mental issues. They can afford the medication and the extra room that is needed to house their loved one. By the way, I don’t know if Kohboh used to sleep in the streets.
I understand that the homeless are being taken to the MCC Grounds where there is an area that has been retrofitted with beds and such, and that they are getting tasty meals. The Belize City Council is working along with some notable agencies: the Welcome Resource Center, the National Sports Council, the Human Services Department, the Red Cross, and others.
The story is that this is to keep them safe, so that they don’t get COVID-19. You know that works out for all of us, because in keeping others safe, we keep ourselves safe.
I hope that during this period we identify a permanent area and construct the facilities needed. Years ago I had suggested an area in the countryside, where they could have a garden and raise some animals so that they can help provide for their keep. Younger brothers and sisters could be rehabilitated that way. Please, no more of leaving our brothers and sisters in the streets under any cover-up nonsense about human rights.
Wa, dangerous double-dipping doctor nabbed in El Cayo
Oho, last week a young doctor, by all recorded accounts a conscientious, dedicated brother, was collared by the long arm of the law and, ahem, he is believed to be now securely behind bars in the police holding cell at their station by the roundabout in San Ignacio. All Belize is now breathing a sigh of relief, knowing that the felon is snared, and his dangerous double-dipping days are done.
Who knows what would have happened if he had eluded police? After he got tired of double dipping in El Cayo, he could have spread his law-breaking practice to other parts of the country. Most people are stunned. Some are wondering if he fashions himself a young Karl Heusner, to be going about sharing his healing gifts, just because he has compassion for the sick.
Seriously, if the young doctor is guilty of what he is accused of, then he kind of slipped out of line here. I’m not sure this quote is from 7News or News5, but the new law against private/public practice says, “for the purposes of preventing, controlling, containing and suppressing the spread of the infectious disease COVID-19, no medical officer employed by the Government of Belize, during the period of public emergency declared by Proclamation, shall engage in independent private practice.”
Naturally, a doctor feels that they can handle the situation, and they’ve got the capacity because they are often exposed to sick people and they have to be on their toes to not get sick. But the senior doctors know why they have put out such a law. The medical experts don’t yet know everything about the spread of COVID-19. A slip up here doesn’t affect just an individual. Everybody is riding with everybody to stay in the clear.
The Belize Medical and Dental Association is beefing about the arrest, but they absolutely don’t have a case here. They might have valid complaints on other issues, but on this one we have our laws, and we are in a difficult situation. Our dory is in very rough seas.
My posterior couldn’t take anymore, and my arm couldn’t get anymore
There was this time when I injured one side of my rib cage and after a couple months of restricted breathing and then a year of nagging pain I got the courage to go to the hospital. I don’t like doctors and their hospitals, because they are always trying to find out things. You go to find out about this, and they want to give you tests for that, and tara tara tara.
It is advisable to approach the doctor like you approach the mechanic. You know you can’t afford to fix all the things that are wrong with your old car, so you are very clear with your instructions, what problem you want addressed. Let’s face the facts: if you don’t have medical insurance (I don’t), you don’t want your doctor to get too inquisitive.
There was this time when I was out of character; I told Dr. Reneau that I thought a pain I had was too much up in my ribs, so his purge and pack of mint (or was it antacid?) couldn’t be the cure. Dr. Reneau said, ‘oh, you want to take some tests’, and he went and scribbled some things on a piece of paper and sent me over to the people who did the rudimentary things that are now done by the expensive ultrasound and CAT scan. Of course, the doctor was right. In those days I was eating too much salchichas and bread, when I was hungry, or drinking, when I was hungry.
I believe I wrote, a long time ago, that the doctor at the Belmopan hospital prescribed 5 injections, in the hind quarter. You try not to look at needles…. straight jacket mi; this one neva small. Some medicines are thin, like water, and some are in-between, and some are viscous, like egg white. The B-12 bogha the doc prescribed for my pain was thick like glue. If I tell you I’m good for something, believe mi, and when I tell you I noh tu manly about something, it’s like this —we are who we are. I try to look away when I know the needle is coming, but the corner of the eye is not easy to shutter.
After the third injection – I don’t think I made it to the fourth – I had forgotten about the pain in the ribs, it was much lessened, and I was feeling it in my behind, so I decided no más, not anymore of this, or I will end up with another injury. It’s rare, but sometimes, more than two decades after I got jammed at the hospital, I feel a little twinge in the area. Maybe it is just muscle memory.
You hear all these people talking nonsense about vaccines; well, I bet most of them are terrified of needles and they don’t want anyone to know they are yellow. That can be the only explanation. I don’t believe people are fools, and you have to be questioned if you doubt the virtues of vaccines. I understand conspiracy theories, but not when it comes to the World Health Organization and Pan American Health Organization. If their business is to do away with us, they have an arsenal to unleash. Mek dehn jam di baby.
On another occasion, when I didn’t get all the injections, the decision was the doctor’s. Mercifully, those injections were in the arm. Maybe that’s why I fearlessly turned up at the hospital to get jammed, only to be shocked when the doctor came out of his office and told the nurse, “No more injections for him; it is a waste of good medicine.” I looked at him and said, “What? You sure I don’t need the five that was prescribed?”, and he said, “You heard me, no more injections for you. You are wasting good government medicine.”