Major Hospital Fire in Saint Lucia. Issue 6 (24th December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Greenidge, Charles; Cawich, Shamir O.; Burt, Richard; Francis, Tashina
• Is Part Of: Prehospital and disaster medicine. Volume 36:Issue 6(2021)
• Page Start: 797
• Page End: 802
• Publication Date: 2021-12-24
• Subjects: Caribbean -- fire -- hospital; Emergency medical services -- Periodicals; Emergency medicine -- Periodicals; Disaster medicine -- Periodicals; 616.025
• DOI: 10.1017/S1049023X21000947
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1049-023X

Abstract

Abstract: This paper provides a field report on a hospital fire at the St. Jude hospital in the Eastern Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia. The hospital was completely destroyed by the fire and three deaths were recorded. This paper analyses the emergency response to this hospital fire and discusses the lessons learned from this experience. This is a valuable lesion for developing countries in the Caribbean, especially since there have been four hospital fires reported in the Caribbean within the past decade.