Twenty-two-year-old Rayon Goodwin, was para-lysed after he was shot by gunmen more than two years ago. Goodwin, who wants to become an accoun-tant, needs your help to raise much needed funds to undertake an operation in Cuba or the United States. - Photo by Noel Thompson

WESTERN BUREAU:

The crime wave affecting St James is placing a major strain on health facilities in the parish with victims of violence flooding hospitals and other treatment facilities.

Between December last year and January more than 3,000 persons were treated at the Cornwall Regional Hospital's accident and emergency department for injuries related to crime and violence. These included gunshots, knife and machete wounds, sexual assault and assault with blunt instruments.

Fifty-eight per cent or 1,779 of the victims were male and this included 178, who were treated for gunshot wounds. Of the 1,310 female crime victims, 27 were treated for gunshot wounds.

While numbers for this year were not immediately available Everton Anderson, chief executive officer at the hospital said there has been an upward trend in the number of victims of violence seen at the facility.

"It is a real challenge facing us in terms of the cost of dealing with such cases, as well as the toll it is having on staff in managing these large number of cases related to crime and violence," Anderson said.

Affects staff morale

"The situation really affects staff morale, as they have to face these cases on a regular basis. We have become accustomed to it, but it is our sincere hope that this trend will decrease because we just cannot continue like this," he added.

Anderson said dealing with the large number of violence-related injuries also had significant bearing on other areas of health care at the hospital and resulted in other patients time and treatment being compromised.

Outside the gates of the hospital several victims of seemingly senseless violence are thanking the doctors and nurses for saving their lives even as they face life-altering changes.

Twenty-five-year-old Ryon Goodwin, of Salt Spring, St James, is paralysed from the chest down after he and his friends were ambushed and shot by gunmen near his home on March 19, 2005.

He spent one month at the Cornwall Regional Hospital and six months at the Mona Rehabilitation Unit in Kingston.

"The doctors told me that it is possible for me to walk again. I was crippled from my neck down, but with a few physiotherapy treatment at the Mona Rehab I am able to move my neck and hands once again, but I am not able to move my fingers," said Ryon.

His injury has left a tremendous burden on his mother Cynthia Spence, who had to give up her job to care for him fulltime.

"It is very difficult. We are poor people who do not have money, so it becomes very hard at times," Spence said.

The family is not sure how much money it will cost for Goodwin to walk again, as doctors have informed them that he may need to travel to Cuba or the United States for surgery and treatment.

Whatever the cost, they simply have no money and crime has left a young man in an even greater struggle to achieve his dream of becoming an accountant.