Growing concern over sudden deaths

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I am certainly growing more and more concerned about the number of persons in Barbados who are suddenly dropping dead.

 

In the last few weeks, we have heard of several cases of citizens going about their daily business, only to slump over or fall, and within seconds they are gone. 

 

Now of course, we cannot tell death when to sneak up on us. However, it seems to me as if there is a season for some things in Barbados, and unfortunately, this seems to be the season where the young and not so young are prone to sudden death. 

 

Now when it has been established that an individual who “takes in” and dies suddenly has had some underlying health problems with which he or she has been battling for some time, the death, though sudden, is better understood. Not accepted, but understood. However, when a young man for instance, in the prime of his youth, with no known ailments or complaints just collapses and dies, there is cause for concern. We can only speculate about the cause and whether there was an underlying health problem that went undetected.

 

The issue here however is the quick succession or sequence of these sudden deaths. An elderly man collapses and dies whilst in a bus stand; another elderly man collapses and dies whilst at a karaoke bar; a young woman falls ill in the City while having lunch and dies in front of friends before an ambulance crew can assist her; another young woman slumps over in a bus and dies on her way to work; a young man collapses while on the job; and a man exits a bus and is overtaken by sudden death. I am not sure if I missed any, but I am sure we all get the point. These deaths have occurred within the last few months, weeks and days, in quick succession. We also had a few incidents that were made public last year.

 

It would be interesting to hear the cause of death of each person in the scenarios listed, not out of sheer ‘maliciousness’, but simply to learn from these incidences and to better understand the causative factors involved. While people may be talking in hushed tones about a particular incident they know of or have extra knowledge about, it may be best to have an overall look at what is occurring here in Barbados in this season.

 

Only the other day I was in a supermarket parking lot and I saw this lady stretched out behind the steering wheel of her vehicle. The windows were down and I peered into the vehicle on passing, but I could not tell if she was simply reclining with her eyes closed, sleeping or dead. I thought to myself that I should attempt to rouse her to determine what state she was in and possibly to see if she was feeling OK, or in need of any assistance. Out of the blue, a gentleman came up to the car, pulled the car door and entered the vehicle. So from my vantage point in my own vehicle, I watched to see the outcome and I was relieved when the lady sat up, straightened her seat and seemingly engage the gentleman in conversation before they made their exit from the car park.

 

The point is, these sudden deaths play with your mind. You see someone in a state that you cannot quite read in terms of what is occurring and you try to determine if you should intervene and try to assist, or if you should leave well alone before you unnerve someone for intruding in their personal space.

 

That said, we need to take better care of ourselves as a nation, given the rise in chronic non-communicable diseases and the level of stress experienced in the workplace, at home or in other circles. 

 

We also need to draw closer to our maker, the Almighty, because, as the old people always say, we can never tell when our number will be picked and our time will be up.