'Worst' ferry ride ever

One mother is calling on the authorities to provide proper facilities on-board the Jean de la Valette to accommodate injured passengers or disabled people. Sherise Taylor, mother of Kherse Walker, 16, whose foot was injured during an accident in Tobago in April, is scheduled to make a number of follow-up visits with her daughter to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, Trinidad.

She told Newsday their recent experience aboard the Jean de la Valette was the "worst" and said there were a number of issues that left her and her daughter exhausted and traumatised.

Returning to Tobago last Thursday after visiting the hospital, she said there were problems getting into the vessel's elevator and finding a comfortable seat. Taylor said a stretcher was placed on the floor for Walker to lay on for the journey. She said their frustration was compounded when the boat, being leased at $271,000 per day, experienced technical difficulties on its way to Trinidad and had to turn back.

She told Newsday the first time she used the TT Spirit to take her daughter for another medical check-up, she was placed in a dirty room with boxes packed at each corner and was told she must stay inside the room as it was the area reserved for patients using the vessel.

“I get frustrated and I told them I’m not putting my daughter back in there. I let her sit on one of the long chairs and they told me she’s a patient and cannot sit among passengers.”

Taylor said last Thursday aboard the Jean de la Valette, a number of passengers struggled to lift her daughter up a staircase to get inside the boat. She said a suggestion was made by the captain to allow the child to stay inside an ambulance, in the area with the vehicles, during the sailing, after it became almost impossible to lift her up the stairs.

Taylor said a fixation device was placed in her daughter's right leg, which is unable to bend.

“I said, 'They mad, they not leaving her down there with all that fumes.' It was (ferry) workers who helped her up on the stretcher from the ambulance, because the elevator is too small. When we got in, we realised there is no room reserved for patients travelling on the boat, and then to make it worse all the seats were too narrow; they told me she cannot sit on the long chair because of safety issues and the best place for her is the ground.”

She said despite the arduous task of boarding the vessel, her daughter tried best to get comfortable in the stretcher, but she had to endure more trauma with the boat turning around and then more difficulty getting her off. Passengers were later accommodated on the TT Spirit.

She said Minister for Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan was present when the Jean de la Valette returned to Port of Spain and she was able to lodge her complaints to him. The minister referred her to his assistant, who was also on-site.

During a tour of the Jean de la Valette after its maiden voyage to Tobago last Wednesday night, Captain Karel Lemmik said people in wheelchairs can use the ramp to get onto the boat and then the elevator. He was responding to a question from the media on accessibility for disabled people.

Taylor's daughter received plastic surgery on her right leg in May at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, after sustaining serious injuries in a vehicular accident.

The vehicle, in which she was a passenger, collided with a metal railing along the Claude Noel Highway. Reports indicate Trevon Bonas, 18, the driver of the Mazda 323 which Walker was in, lost control and crashed head-on into the railing. Bonas lost his leg in the accident.