Tuesday, February 19, 2019

THE GLEANER, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS

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Navardo Griffiths: from coma and amputation to Paralympics dream

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Gov’t waives fees to treat flu-like symptoms at UHWI Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has declared the public health system to be under severe pressure from sus- pected dengue, gastroenteritis and flu-like symptoms. To deal with a heavy influx of patients, the ministry has applied changes to a number of health facilities in the Corporate Area. In a release, Tufton said that overcrowd- ing at certain facilities has resulted from the increase in persons, including children, experiencing symptoms. Measures put in place to combat over- crowding include the waiving of fees until further notice, as well as extending opening hours at certain facilities. Parents of children experiencing flu-like symptoms have been advised to go to the University Hospital of the West Indies for assessment and treatment. Until further notice, the Government will waive the fees at the facility. “In Kingston, Bustamante Hospital for Children is particularly affected, with moth- ers coming in with children experiencing severe symptoms. We are reminding cit- izens that we have extended opening hours for a number of health centres in the Corporate Area,” he said. British woman charged for cocaine find at airport Police officers attached to the JCF Narcotics Division arrested and charged a British woman in connection with the seizure of eight pounds of cocaine at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, last Thursday. She is Marjolyn Gayle, 57, a nurse aid of Nottingham, England. Reports are that about 6 p.m., Gayle arrived at the airport and checked in to board a flight destined for London. Her luggage was searched by narcotics officers and six packages were detected with white substance resembling cocaine, weighing approximately eight pounds. She was charged with possession of cocaine, dealing in cocaine and attempting to export cocaine. The drug has an estimated street value of $4 million. The Universal Service Fund (USF) will be setting up more community access points (CAP) across the island this year. Director of projects at the agency, Kwan Wilson, said St James and Portland are among rural areas being targeted for new sites. He said the USF would also be looking at increasing the number of freeWi-Fi zones in a drive to facilitate greater Internet access for Jamaicans. Secure, public hotspots are already available in high-traffic areas in Kingston, St Andrew, Manchester, and St Elizabeth. The USF has, over the years, established more than 300 CAP sites in an effort to bring information and communications tech- nologies to underserved areas in Jamaica. These locations enable citizens to use the Internet at minimal or no cost for research, bill payments, educational purposes, com- munication, business, marketing, and social networking. Twenty-five-year-old JavaughnDavis, a barber of Monza inGreater Portmore, St Catherine, is suspected to have committed suicide at his home on Saturday, February 16. Reports from the Portmore police are that about 10 a.m., a relative stumbled upon Davis’ body and alerted them. On their arrival, he was seen in a room hanging from the grille by a cord. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Investigations continue. More free Wi-Fi hotspots coming Suspected suicide in Portmore

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Jason Cross/Gleaner Writer A FTER BEING revived from a coma that lasted roughly one year and six months,thenwakinguptorealisehe could no longer walk, 31-year-old Navardo Griffithsnowhashiseyessetonrepresenting Jamaica at the 2020 Paralympics in South Korea and the Parapan American Games in August this year. Electrocuted in 2010 while walk- ing through a property in St Catherine, Griffiths questioned whether life was worth living after he discovered his legs were amputated. “I gave up on life, thinking it would be the end. I was passing through [private] prop- erty at a bauxite plant. They were doing some relocation of equipment from the property. A couple of my friends and I were going across. Somehow they didn’t turn off the main breakers, so current was still in the wire hanging down. Because the place bush up, I didn’t see the electric wire, so I stepped on it,” he told The Gleaner on Sunday at the annual Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run in New Kingston, which raised more than $50 million for charity. ‘AT THE POINT OF SUICIDE’ Stepping on that wire was the last thing Griffiths remembered that day. It would be 18 months before he would regain consciousness. “I was in a coma and was in the intensive care unit for eight months. After that, they placed me on a ward,” he explained. “When I woke up, I found out my legs were amputated. I didn’t know that was the plan because they did the operation while I was in intensive care. [Losing my legs] got me down. After coming out, it took me about two years to recover. I was at the point of suicide, but I started thinking that if Father God wantedme dead, I would have died from the incident.” Griffiths’real saving grace came when he was introduced to the national Paralympics programme, under the guidance of Neville Sinclair. He now trains alongside star Paralympian Alphanso Cunningham and revealed that his respect for Cunningham

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Navardo Griffiths embraces his teammate, Sashagaye Thompson, following their participation in Sunday’s Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run in New Kingston. Griffiths was second in the 5K race for male para athletes. PHOTO BY JASON CROSS

100 per cent determined to get there. I train every day, so Jamaica can look for- ward to that.” The Sigma Run raised $52.4 million for the Lupus Foundation, the Diabetes Association of Jamaica, and the May Pen Hospital’s Neonatal Unit.

has made them best friends. “I am training for the shot put event. My coach says I am doing good. I am not there yet, but getting there. Participating at the Paralympics would be a dream come true,” he told The Gleaner . Griffiths’ personal best in the shot put is 9.3 metres, well off the world record of more than 14 metres, but, he said: “I am

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Most Windrush victims J’can, says Ahmad Compensation details to be known in weeks

He said that Queen’s Counsel Martin Forde, the independent adviser appointed to oversee the development of the com- pensation scheme, has been given free rein and that he was not restricted in terms of what he may consider for compensa- tion or the value of the payout. “He was given full remit to make recommendations as to who would qualify,” the high commissioner stated. The Windrush Generation refers to immigrants who were invited to the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries to help rebuild after the war. The name derives from the ship MV Empire Windrush , which, on June 22, 1948, docked inTilbury, Essex, bringing nearly 500 Jamaicans to the UK. In recent years, thousands of Caribbean people who subsequently arrived in the UK, even as children, were threatened with deportation in what became known as the Windrush scandal. They were told that they were in Britain illegally, despite having lived and worked in the country for decades.

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Paul Clarke Gleaner Writer

BRITISH HIGH Commissioner Asif Ahmad has revealed that more than half of the British government’s Windrush Generation cases registered under the compensation scheme are Jamaican. “We know the 12,000 peo- ple who have registered for the compensation scheme; we know them by nationality. But what we do not know is, of those, how many would come within the scope of the compensation scheme. Many would have just made an enquiry in the hope that they might qualify, but find that they were not in the UK in the period concerned,”Ahmad told The Gleaner yesterday. “And what I do know, overall, is that roughly 60 per cent of the Windrushcases–intermsofsever- ity or just genuine enquiry – are from Jamaica. It is safe to say that Jamaica will be a very significant

Asif Ahmad, British high commissioner to Jamaica. GLADSTONE TAYLOR/MULTIMEDIA PHOTO EDITOR

proportionofanypayout.Thatisa given,”explainedAhmad. Thousands of Jamaican Windrush victims are awaiting the verdict on their applications and should know in a matter of weeks if they qualify for com- pensation under the British Home Office Compensation Scheme, following the closure of the consultation period last November. “Right now, there are assess- ments going on within the Home Office to push things through and to see how much

the scheme should be and then to secure funding from central government,” Ahmad said yesterday. He explained that British Home Secretary Sajid Javid told the British Parliament “a few weeks ago” that the com- pensation scheme would be announced to the House. “Although no timeline was attached to Javid’s statement, he did say that it would have happened in the next few weeks, so we are waiting for that,” Ahmad said.

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paul.clarke@gleanerjm.com

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11 Winners $1,055 ea. 11 Winners $1,400 ea. 18 Winners $1,228 ea. 35 Winners $1,000 ea. 60 Winners $1,000 ea.

182 Winners $204 ea. 234 Winners $210 ea. 334 Winners $211 ea. 514 Winners $200 ea. 844 Winners $200 ea.

21 16 13 10 3 22 18 15 14 3 19 18 16 21 22 21 21 18 16 11 6 No Winner No Winner No Winner 1 Winner $800,000 2 Winners $100,000 ea.

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30 Winners $1,347 ea. 726 Winners $100 ea.

28 Winners $459 ea.

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