Elderly Woman Dies after Ambulance Crash in Clarendon

A Clarendon family is currently in deep hurt after an ambulance transporting a relative of theirs crashed, which they are now claiming is the cause of the person’s death.

The incident took place last Thursday, and the now-deceased person was identified as 72-year-old Hazel Beckford, from the community of Kemps Hill in Clarendon.

The elderly woman died on Sunday however, her family members have since then taken a strong stance that it was the injuries which she sustained from the accident that led to her death.

By the occurrence that took place, Joseph Grant the Parish Manager for Clarendon Health services, says there was no factual information at this point to show that the accident was the causal factor that led to the death of the patient since it was reported that Beckford was taken into hospital with complications.

The daughter of the deceased woman, Althea Donaldson was very disturbed about the situation, since she said that no one has spoken to them directly about anything further explaining to the Jamaica Observer, who she spoke to that her mother had broken her neck and bones in the accident and so they need answers because she would not have died if the crash did not take place.

The Grand Daughter of Hazel Beckford also spoke on the matter expressing her trauma when she found out via a video online, that her grandmother was one of the persons in the ambulance that met in the accident.

According to the reports, Beckford was being transferred from the type C Lionel Town hospital to May Pen or Mandeville because the medical facility where she was originally being held did not have enough oxygen to help with breathing problems. The elderly woman was initially brought to the hospital for diabetic problems which impacted her eating habits.

Lisa Swaby, the granddaughter of Beckford says she knew it was her grandmother that was in the ambulance when she saw one of the persons wearing clothes that she recognised as those she had dressed her grandmother in before being transferred.

The family reported that after the incident occurred they received a call from the May Pen Hospital however, the person did not address the crash and was more interested in getting the elderly woman registered at the Mandeville hospital for transfer.

It was sometime after the first call that Swaby said another call came in with them stating that her grandmother was admitted to the May Pen hospital, due to the crash and had suffered a broken collar bone and cuts to the arm and head.

She was also reported to have internal bleeding in the brain, which the family are convinced was caused by the accident.

The relatives of Hazel Beckford, are currently awaiting the results of the Post Mortem to decide the next steps forward.