‘It’s unfair and unjust’

Pensioners in the community of Bull Bay, which is located at the St Andrew-St Thomas border, are expressing frustration at the inconvenience they now have to endure to access crucial services since the demolition of the local health centre and post office.

The post office and health centre were demolished to facilitate major roadworks being carried out under the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project.

The pensioners, who would normally collect their monthly payments at the Bull Bay Post Office, said its closure has been a major blow, especially in light of the permanent shuttering of the Harbour View Post Office in 2018. They now have to access services at the Windward Road Post Office several miles away.

“This area, it nuh make no sense we live out here no more,” 69-year-old Lurline Jackson told The Gleaner on Monday, noting that seniors in the various communities were now left disadvantaged.

Jackson, who is tasked to collect the social pension for her bedridden 79-year-old sister, who has suffered six strokes, informed The Gleaner that elderly residents who have to move around with the assistance of a walking cane and other assistance have found it the most challenging.

She further said that the seniors, who are heavily dependent on the Jamaica Urban Transit Company public buses for transportation into the capital city, given the subsidised fares, are also often frustrated as the unreliable schedules make the wait time for buses too lengthy.

In a March 3 advisory, the Jamaica Post noted that the closure of the Bull Bay Post Office was a result of the ongoing construction compromising “the integrity of the existing building”, adding that staff and customers were adversely affected by the dust and other nuisance caused by the construction activities.

It noted that there were efforts under way to find “a suitable alternative location in the Bull Bay community to facilitate the return of the post office in the medium to long term”.

On Monday, The Gleaner was unable to get a response to the concerns from Jamaica Post.

“The post office is a vital interest to us and also our clinic,” Jackson said of the former buildings, which stood next to each other.

To access medical care, locals now have to visit the Harbour View Health Centre.

Jackson lamented how challenging it has been to transport her bedridden sister, Maria Sylvester, to Kingston Public Hospital in downtown Kingston, a much farther distance, as opposed to the five-minute walk they would previously take to the Bull Bay Health Centre.

With a dejected expression as she held on to a walking cane and a nearby steel post for support, Clarissa Brown expressed that Bull Bay had nothing left going for it.

The 67-year-old appealed to the authorities to move quickly to address the plight of the senior citizens in the area.

“Some government people need to see what we go through here in Eleven Miles,” she said.

The retirees are pleading with the Jamaica Post and the South East Regional Health Authority to reinstate their services in the community by finding temporary locations to rent and operate from until permanent buildings can be constructed.

“Bull Bay is a big community. Why them move the clinic and post office? That’s really ridiculous ... . It’s unfair and unjust,” she said, noting that the seniors felt abandoned.

Eighty-two-year-old Lucille Rowe told The Gleaner that she suffered from high blood pressure and had to visit the health centre twice a week. She expressed how convenient it was for her to take the five-minute journey from her home in Ten Miles to get treatment and medication. Now, she has to spend $600 to traverse to and from the health centre in Harbour View.

Mark Martin, parish manager for Kingston and St Andrew Health Services, informed The Gleaner that since the health centre was demolished in 2021, a suitable location was identified through the collaborative efforts of the National Land Agency and National Works Agency. However, the facility is in need of renovation before it can be occupied.

He was unable to give a date for such work to begin or the budget allocated to complete the project.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com