I read in the paper this week that there is $316,000.00 being spent on placing decorative stone on 200 or 300 yards of road in front of Ramons. Also that there is a plan to place a swing bridge over the canal at considerable cost. There was over the last year something like $100,000.00 to plant trees and so forth. Town council is promoting these things.
My question is why is this all more important than the hospital. Why does the town council consider the hospital 'none of their business'. They seem to think the Lions club is responsible to give the community a hospital and emergency medical while they spend so much of the towns money on showy projects. Is not a town council supposed to look after the best interests of the towns people. The priorities are really messed up. Is it not more important to have emergency medical facility, a hospital, especially considering that you cannot get off the island at night and about half the time you cannot find a doctor on weekends. There is virtually no emergency medical or ambulance yet there is a ton of money for roads and trees. People who may suffer neck or back injuries are transported by golf cart or taxi. The only defibrillator on the island is outdated and cannot be gotten at after working hours. .. think about it ... people have surely died that need not have, because of this complete lack of emergency medical facilities or a hospital. Is the road and trees really more important??? Is not the town councils responsibility to fight for funding of a hospital. The Lions has done what it can but surly it is time for the council to fight for this. How can San Pedro call itself a retirement center without this most needed facility.


[This message has been edited by ljacks (edited 03-03-2002).]

Does make one stop and ponder the situation.....

It's the people who will make a difference.....it won't happen on a message board....do you live there?? C

from a friend..
=========
The stalled-out hospital project belongs to the Lions Club. Ask them what happened to all the donations that were offered to complete it. The Lions turned down all of them cause the donators insisted on getting professional consultants in to design and supervise the job. This is too big and specialized for the locals to build without help.

I realize the mabey nothing will happen because of the message on this board board ... but if it gets people talking and asking questions .. that is something isn't it.

It may be the Lions that started the hospital, and surely I realize what has happened to the offers to assist them, not only with finances, but also with equipment donations (turned down or ignored because they would loose control of the spending)
But my point is that the council, more than Lion’s are elected to look after the people here. Where are they in all this??. If they can get funding for all they are doing then they can get funding for something that means so much to the people and tourists here. Surely they, and all of us have loved ones that may need this service sometimes. But they are in a position to do something about it ... yet they do not... they find it easier to be blind to the need and spend on less meaningful projects. It is amazing to me that there is not more fighting about this, that the resorts owners don't get more aggressive, in for no other reason than for the sake of increased financial rewards that may come to them if there is a facility.


[This message has been edited by ljacks (edited 03-03-2002).]

Maybe you should own and operate a ambulance service....

In the United States more people die from gun violence every year than in all of the other G7 countries put together. Perhaps some of you should concentrate on solving problems in your own communities instead of trying to tell people in a small town in a 3rd world country what their priorities should be. Surely if the people of San Pedro are unhappy with the decisions of their town council they will vote for someone else next time. If you don't like their decisions...go vacation somewhere else.

Tire of people who think they know it all!!!

I must come to Ijacks defense here. If he is who I think he is, he has lived and worked in San Pedro for a long, long time and is not just vacationing there. But whether he lives here or is a tourist, his points are valid. There is a lack of medical services that is much needed. Alot of us have donated to the Lions hospital and are disappointed that it has not progressed more than it has. And, I think it is entirely appropriate to question why the town council has not directed more assets to a need that is so basic. There is alot of money being spent in the attempt to attract more tourists. It is also important that thought and assets be given to the needs of those tourists and the residence of Ambergris Caye. I happen to be a resident of Belize. But I feel anyone who cares about Belize, be they resident or tourist, has a right to express their concerns for the betterment of the country. Belive me, there are alot of tourists who I wish would vacation somewhere else and some residents that I wish resided elsewhere. But those are not the ones who care about Ambergris and Belize and are willing to engage in discussion for it's betterment. They are the ones that don't care and make no effort to leave where they vacation or live better than they found it. So Ijack, keep the comments coming and ignore the ones who don't feel we have a right to try and be a positive influence for a place we care about. Let's hope they find elsewhere to vacation.
PS: KB I see from your profile that you are from Canada. It might be interesting for you to read the post under "other parts of Belize" about the dam project. It brings up some interesting points on a company from Canada involving itself in Belize to the possible detriment of Belize. But, a Canadian company probably "knows it all".

[This message has been edited by bywarren (edited 03-04-2002).]

[This message has been edited by bywarren (edited 03-04-2002).]

KB: Free speech obviously upsets you. If that is the case, it might be more appropriate for you to stop reading than for others to stop posting, merely in order to accommodate your desire to avoid any views with which you disagree.
I too think that the task of building a hospital is too great a task for a private organization to complete without the participation of government at some level -- even for the Lions Club which has been known to work quite a few miracles.
I also question whether street beautification might be accomplished with simpler less expensive supplies, and half the money allocated to the hospital.
It is, after all, an issue of priorities. Filling potholes for safety's sake is definitely worthwhile, but it need not be done with the most beautiful stones in the world, how about just the least expsensive serviceable product available?
I don't know enough about who is responsible for paying the cost of building and equipping a hospital, but perhaps the town might set aside the savings from using less expensive stones to pave the street to a matching fund, allow the Lions Club to administer it through their international tax deductible charity apparatus, and invite matching donations from NGO's, corporations and individuals who might benefit from tax deductions in whatever country they happen to live in?
It also makes me wonder why the GOB had all that money to "donate" to the now bankrupt hotel on the beach and not to the building of a hospital????????

I think you are preaching to the choir