MP Lovitta Foggo: “Will The Promise Be Kept?”
As the six months of review about the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre continues, St. David’s MP Lovitta Foggo has asked will the promise of keeping it open be kept.
Last year the Bermuda Hospitals Board announced that they would close the St David’s medical facility, citing financial constraints.
The Opposition raised strenuous objections, and on 21st November 2013, then-Health Minister Patricia Gordon Pamplin announced that she directed the Bermuda Hospitals Board to keep Lamb Foggo open until an “alternative plan is worked out,” which she said anticipated will take no more than 6 months.
Ms. Foggo said, “Just a few short months ago, the people of St. David’s united with Bermudians from across the island, in an effort to save the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre from being shut down by the Bermuda Hospital Board [BHB]/OBA.
“Over the years, many of us have come to see this facility as a godsend having observed and experienced first hand the benefits of having a facility of this nature here in the east end.
“For that reason, thousands of Bermudians, from all walks of life, came together without regard to race or political affiliation, to keep Lamb Foggo open.
After gathering thousands of signatures and holding a protest on the steps of Parliament, we witnessed Premier Cannonier say, ‘I believe that in the process of this, there was no consultation and there was error in no consultation….As we move forward, we need to ensure that the east end is supplied with a unit which will meet the needs of the people.”
“In fact, he stated unequivocally, that Lamb Foggo would remain open. When further questioned by the public to ensure that he was not implying for the six months only, he gave his assurance pointing out that he made his comment in front of all Bermuda, so the people could rely on his word.
“The Premier did the right thing! As the six months of review continues, the question begs will the promise be kept? Is the BHB trying to have this decision rescinded? Why you may ponder?”
MP Foggo the Premier will keep it open because if he doesn’t he’ll follow the same path that Paula Cox’s walked and be kicked out of leadership next election. He couldn’t care about what the rest of the island has to say about the clinic, all that matters is what the EAST VOTERS want to stay happy.
Everyone below is a idiot if they believe that Premier Cannonier is going to close the Urgent Care Centre. When will you fools realize it’s not about what’s right or wrong! It’s about staying in power to be the ruling government.
Now sit down and shut up your comments about closing the building don’t apply on this topic.
It’s also about listening to the people. Something the PLP were too arrogant to do.
Exactly Rob…But also, after having to make use of this facility and the convenience it had offered my wife recently I too have to reconsider the need for such a place as the Lamb, Foggo Medical Centre in the East end.
It should be suggested to the public that they do not have to wait a week or more to have an Xray or various other minor medical needs attended to… Therefore, I would now “eat my words” and state unequivocally that the Lamb, Foggo Medical Centre should remain open, if not for any other reason for Xrays and minor treatment when required.
Has it been used enough to justify keeping it open? There is no point in keeping it open if staff is standing around looking at each other.
What part of ‘no money’ for surplus to needs services do people not understand?
What curious timing from the PLP once again.
I am sure is nothing but a coincidence that Ms. Foggo brought this up after the very positive announcement of the Government assisting St. George’s financially.
What does Ms. Foggo say about this considering the fact that the UCC remains open.
It would be kept open if your govt had not spent all de money.
I guess this was her week to be in the news. Next week it’ll be flip flop I bet followed by Rayban. Tisk tisk
Hey, at least they take shifts. Imagine if they all spoke at once!
Good gosh. I don’t even wana picture it. They all speak out gibberish now.
If your not gonna be open 24 hours pointless being open. People take sick during the night people have babies during the night people get hurt during the night.
No, not true, “a half a loaf is better than none at all”. It’s obvious to me and others that the facility isn’t utilized enough i.e. the public being told to go there during the hours it is open for matters that can wait and aren’t necessarily an emergency…
I’d give some credence to her statement had she said . . .
“For that reason, thousands of Bermudians, from all walks of life, came together without regard to ( ”race or ,” ** omit this part **) political affiliation, to keep Lamb Foggo open.
What did race have to do with it ?
“Will The Promise Be Kept?”
Poignant statement….considering my life-long dream became a nightmare which saw me wake up relieved it was finally over on Dec 17th.
Ask the PLP how many promises they kept. Secondly how do you keep something open if it don’t make money?
Ask foggo to help out and I bet you she’ll say no.
have any of the promises been kept?
Before the L FUCC was built people had to rely on the hospital. Whilst not ideal, did anyone die? My recollection was that the facility was built during the Premiership of a doctor. St David’s was also a marginal seat. Any coincidence?
A good question Ringmaster, of course we know why it was built!!! But even after we have sunk to even lower lows financially before the plp were finally rid of, we have the blind sheep more concerned about a ” CLINIC ” than putting our financial affairs in order which will clear the way for employment for them??? Unbelievable the levels of stupidity they sink too??? When any one of them that is shouting out loud for this silly place can give me one example of how a life was saved by this nothing more than a facility that can put a band aid and peroxide on a scratch justifies the cost, I stand corrected!!!!
An expensive, unnecessary, and little used first aid post.
This woman is stupid.
Actually your Premier is the stupid one for not closing it. Stop shifting the power button. The PLP is not the ruling party anymore and your leader is weak weak weak Sandy. Send him a email asking him to close it fool you will not like the response back.
She is the one talking about marches and so-called “promises”. She and her ilk are the real problem. They spend money that no-one has on stupid stuff like this. Then they complain when we don’t have money for real essential things. It’s just stupidity.
And to think she was a teacher. (Shocked)
I think Lamb Foggo opened to take some of the pressure off KEMH for minor cases! Surely the new and very expensive hospital will be able to cater for all the needs of a population of 65,000 on a small Island!
Heck, most other places have hospitals and emergency departments that cater to 4 and 5 (or more) times that number of people over a much greater area. Whilst a good idea it really can’t be cost effective – in fact having been there a couple of times and been the only patient with 4 staff on duty I am sure it is not!!
I think anyone could see it would not be financially sustainable!
Now the hospitals board are begging the public and company’s to cough up to build the new place whilst they must be using some of that cash to keep the Lamb Foggo open!!
Go figure!
Right on Rock watcher,
Sadly this is being used as a political football by the area MP to garner support.
Ms Foggo, you are dealing with the O B A now.
There goes the PLP stirring the pot again.
Instead of them doing that, why don’t they tell us why they should be voted back in. That’s what I’d like to hear.
Why they should be voted back in? For them to answer that question, they will first have to make the OBA look worse than the previous administration.
When the next election rolls around just like the cry that went up during the 1846-48 Mexican/American war; ‘Remember the Alamo ‘ the people in the East should shout on their to kick this anti-Bermudian one term OBA government out of power;’Remember Lamb/Foggo’.
If the OBA does lose power at the election, then we are truly going backwards. Back to out of control spending, incompetent financial decisions, ego, and just a another version of ‘us vs them’.
We all know it’s true.
How many of us could be objective of this if our name were on the building?
I have used the facility several times myself & would rather drive from Devonshire to St David’s if I need treatment & services rather than go to KEMH which is about a 1/4 mile away from my residence. Primarily because it is far quicker to go there rather than KEMH.
even with it being named after my Great Grandmother (Susan Lamb), my mother being a senior who lives in St david’s as does my Brother and numerous family members (3/4′s of st Davids islanders) I cannot see the justification for keeping it open full time. As it has and continues to operate the costs clearly outweigh the benefits especially as it is understaffed, underutilized and is little more than a glorified band aid station.
Look at the BHB website and see what it says about serious cases … The site tells you to go To KEMH!! Nuff Said. Sure its convenient being close for East Enders but it’s not an Emergency Facility.
Yes there is an argument for a facility that will be available when there are hurricanes and other such emergencies when the causeway may be impassable but not a full time facility. Sadly it was built more for votes than a needed Emergency Facility and clearly with little to no thought to the challenges and operating costs that go with it.
I never looked at it that way but yes, you may be right. It must be ego then.
The place loses money and as stated on the website…go to KEMH for serious issues. The PLP are going to use this as a political football.
I suggest that the OBA MPs from St George’s and St David’s and the Health minister speak on this and not always rely on the Premier.
Come on Nandi and Kenny! Where are you!?
Perhaps the more appropriate question Ms Foggo should be “Will the promise of the PLP Government be kept by the OBA Government”….The clinic should be closed particularly in view of the new hospital which will cost Bermuda over a billion dollars and further mire us in your Governments debt…..are enough people using it to justify it? of course not….just like the build up in civil service to buy votes…does it make sense? no
I don’t think the Premier is stupid enough to make any bold unpopular moves in St.Davids even if the MP in that area is PLP – it’s defiantly not of his Party’s best interest. — all this is Political testing. – I don’t think the Premier will take the bait that easily.
I believe MP Foggo has all right to ask if the Urgent Care Center will continue to be open, considering the fact that hurricane season is approaching. When the bridge closes what are the people in St.David’s and St.George’s supposed to do? That is from what I remember is the main reason why it was open. We have 2 rest homes down this way, what will happen if urgent care closes and a senior gets sick and the bridge is closed? Get over who is in “power” or who was in “power” and think about your community.
If it was only there for when the bridge closes in a hurricane (which itself doesn’t really make any sense), it should be closed the rest of the time.
The LFUCC should never have been built, it was always a political move. It’s unnecessary, underused and expensive.
Why cant it just be an “on-call” facility?? Like when the bridge will close or when there is terrible storms? I think the gov needs to simply layout just how much money is being spent to keep it open 24hrs a day. No business owner would do such a thing if it was money out of their pocket being lost…oh wait, it is money out of ALL OUR pockets! Perhaps they show the cost of it and then show what the money could actually be used for and then see if they get that many people voting to keep it open. Its simple math people. #justsayin
Whatever happend to the West End UCC promised by the PLP in the 2007 election?
Another broken promise I guess.
The PLP where never going to build a West End One, they obviously felt assured of getting the votes they needed in the west so that was all just smoke and mirrors. Admittedly the need for an Emergency Type facility in the East End was more acute as the potential for the causeway to be impassable and or knocked out (again) was real. However with the oncoming election and the East End seats being marginal meant they needed to at least look like they cared. They Didn’t and still don’t IMO, just interested in holding on to power while the got theirs I guess.
The causeway closures (mostly unnecessary by the way) where just the smokescreen the PLP needed to justify building it. If the PLp where really concerned about East Enders then they would have built and staffed a 24 hour Emergency Care Facility capable of handling serious cases over a long period of time. The same sort of cases that the BHB website when speaking of this facility tells to go to KEMH.
The LFUCC was only built to fool people to vote for the PLP again, apparently it worked. Similar to the promises made back then of that ‘soon to be built Hotel’ on the Old Club Med site … er ooops.
While the PLP did at least build this facility it still lacked the essential elements and staff needed should serious cases be brought there especially when the causeway was impassable for long periods of time. Suggesting that it is a life saver because it helped people with lets say asthma is at best weak, I’m certain any East End GP of which I believe there are a few (at least one) could help with that as well as the Emergency EMT’s on the fire trucks.
I do understand to some degree how serious an asthma attack is as my wife has it and it is terrifying seeing one.
Get the former Ministers with deep pockets to pay for it.Then get them to pay for The grand Atlantic and the houses not needed in Dockyard!
After reading these comments, I am a tad amused…
If healthcare was exclusively about money then this world would never procreate, babies would not be born, victims of all types of incidents and/or accidents would not survive, symptoms of all types of diseases would not diagnosed, and the time, equipment and expertise needed to move one patient from high risk to stable could be quantified by the medical care undertaken BEFORE the distance from St David’s to Paget. Critical time, urgent care and vital equipment.
If money was the exclusive ruler of the world then patients would not die. A hospital in Paget will not save your life if the vital medical care is outside the time needed. The time needed to safely get that patients from the east end to the central parish could critical, and money cannot bring the dead back to life.
When you think of preventative medical fallouts, how do you quantify them? What it will cost? Think about what it will cost when you fail to save lives by eliminating the facility? And that medical fallout could be a far greater cost to society.
London, England
Considering that you get to live off the NHS and do not pay taxes in Bermuda to assist in funding our out of control health costs, what is your solution to preventing them from increasing even further.
And since the UCC’s inception it was noted that this was never intended to be a life saving facility. This fact was even stated in the original business plan which was created under the Dr. Brown administration.
So please stop with the ‘UCC saves lives’ nonsense (i.e. lies) and provide workable solutions to our healthcare issues.
Lets see if this is clear enough. The facility is NOT an Emergency Care Unit and if you have internal injuries like head trauma etc from say a bike accident and or a fall they send you KEMH Full Stop!! They don’t have the facilities and staff to treat these cases, it’s on the web page after all. Why is that so hard for some to understand?
The argument that the sooner an accident or serious life and death case are diagnosed and treated the better has its merits but that is still weighed against costs in every country on this planet. The sensible use of tax dollars relating to emergency care costs versus wants are not endemic to Bermuda are they? If it wasn’t there would be a Hospital or care facility every other mile in every country around the globe.
Why make the patient travel twenty or thirty miles when we can provide care just two miles away right? It’s just not practical is it? To suggest that cost is the only factor here dumbs down and dismisses some real issues with the facility and costs relating to its long term viability.
It is Not an Emergency Facility & was never intended to be one; not even when the PLP opened it so where was the area MP’s concern for East Enders then??? It was intended amongst other things to provide EastEnders with a facility that could help in some medical cases if and when the causeway went down or is unpassable.
Besides with the small size of Bermuda, the relatively short distances & time to travel to the main Hospital coupled with revenue that is surely acute means that the BHB knows they will need to squeeze every penny they have to run the new Hospital, Convenience is not necessity.
Last I checked the only people who don’t care about costs are the wealthy and Bermuda is fast losing that battle despite headline news to the contrary.
@PUOSO
Just because some-one advances their opinion, is does not constitute a lie. It is an opinion.
No wonder you mask yourself because your opinion is perfect whilst any to the contrary are all lies. Must be very difficult to live in your world where everyone else is a liar, except you, of course.
What healthcare system is in place in any country, is what it is. People in the UK do not live off the NHS, they pay taxes which funds the NHS. It is the UK’s healthcare system and they are very proud of it.
Considering that my tax bracket is 30% and yours in Bermuda is???
You need to take your pissing contest somewhere else because I failed to spot a workable solution in your opinion.
London, England
@PUOSU
Just because some-one advances their opinion, is does not constitute a lie. It is an opinion.
No wonder you mask yourself because your opinion is perfect whilst any to the contrary are all lies. Must be very difficult to live in your world where everyone else is a liar, except you, of course.
What healthcare system is in place in any country, is what it is. People in the UK do not live off the NHS, they pay taxes which funds the NHS. It is the UK’s healthcare system and they are very proud of it.
Considering that my tax bracket is 30% and yours in Bermuda is???
You need to take your pissing contest somewhere else because I failed to spot a workable solution in your opinion.
London, England
Surely if such a facility was essential for St David’s it would also be essential for Sandys? Why should the West End have to travel all the way to Paget? Sounds like as the West End is a stronghold of the PLP there was no need to pander to the voters.
When the costs of the Lamb Foggo Center are taken into account, it would have been better to spend the money on repairing the Causeway to ensure the East End was secure. What a monument to the 14 years of PLP power – a huge facility that is underutilized and too expensive; the unrepaired Causeway; empty blocks of housing in Warwick; cruise ship pier in Dockyard needing to be rebuilt; ferries and buses needing to be replaced but no money. So much for Standing Strong for Bermudians.
There are plenty of alternatives to keeping this open but it’s not really about that or being fiscal responsible or maintaining a healthy population; rather, it’s about political points and power.
Any business that is spending more than it’s bringing in will not remain open, unless there is someone backing it with unlimited, disposable funds.
That is just not the case with the current contents of Bermuda’s wallet.