The Tribune

A DOCTOR returning after a four-day stint in Clarence Town, Long Island, has praised the Royal Bahamas Defence Force team, BEC and BTC employees for the work they are doing to restore essential services to the community.

“I take my hat off to the men of the Defence Force,” said Dr Leon Dupuch on his return to Nassau from Clarence Town on Sunday. “Early every morning you can see the men of the Defence Force on rooftops helping to secure them. Credit also goes to the BTC and BEC crews who are working hard to restore communication and electricity.” Environmental Heath is also visibly spraying to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

Dr Dupuch said that from Clarence Town all the way south to Gordon’s over 90 per cent of the poles are down. The further south one travels, he said, the devastation gets worse. In some areas the foundation is all that is left of what used to be a home.

The flooding is still so severe that the north has been cut off from the south. Only a bus or a truck can get through.

The Ministry of Health has sent doctors and nurses to Long Island on four to seven-day shifts to assist Dr Carter, stationed in Deadman’s Cay, and Nurse Singh in Clarence Town. Dr Dupuch was replacing Dr Caroline Burnette, who had completed her tour, and on returning to Nassau, he was being replaced by Dr Brennen.

The badly damaged clinic, which will likely be condemned, has been transferred to the air-conditioned Clarence Town Community Centre, which was set up as a control centre by the Defence Force officers, who shared their meals with the medical team.

Although the medical team from Nassau were expected to bed down on the floor in the Community Centre, the “Rowdy Boys” - ­ Ben, Barry, and Bernard Knowles - of the Winter Haven resort ­came to their rescue. Although Winter Haven was badly damaged, the Knowles brothers organised two makeshift areas in the resort to accommodate the medical team, one for the doctor and the other for Nurses Ingraham, Bastian and Cargill.

Dr Dupuch said the Knowles brothers - well known for their “Rowdy Boys Bar & Grill” -­ have suffered heavy losses, not only to their Winter Haven Resort, but to their quarry and farm, which have been destroyed by the flooding. He said they cannot get anyone to help with their repairs because everyone is too busy trying to put their own homes and businesses back together.

The makeshift clinic, now located in the Community Centre, is screened off in about a 20 by 20-foot area. A sheet pulled across serves as a door for privacy. Dr Dupuch said it is now well stocked - “probably better stocked than the original clinic.”

The rest of the Community Centre is also divided into various sections, from which Long Islanders can get food, water and medicines.