IMANI BISHOP, 14, of St Joseph Convent, Port of Spain, has been congratulated by the National League for Nursing (NLN) based in Washington DC, for her recent study of how the covid19 pandemic has brought about a new respect for front-line health workers such as nurses.
Her online survey has been posted on the league's website at its Coronavirus Resource Centre. NLN chief program officer Janice G. Brewington, PhD, in an e-mail to the pupil's parents Richard and Wendy Bishop, said, "We applaud Imani for her or her excellent work."
Founded in 1893 as the American Society of Superintendents of Training Schools for Nurses, the NLN was the first nursing organization in the United States.
Bishop's findings indicate a leap in interest in front-line health workers over the period of the pandemic.
Some 80 people were polled, of whom 35 replied. They were asked, "Did you gain an interest in front-line workers due to the work they performed during the fight against the coronavirus disease?"
Some 51 per cent of respondents said they had an interest before the pandemic, while 49 per cent did not. However, some 94 per cent of respondents said that during the pandemic they gained an interest in the work of front-line workers, with just six per cent saying no.
Bishop called for TT to have a national day of recognition for nurses.
She said she initially had no interest in the work of these workers, but had changed her mind of seeing their heroic efforts worldwide. "Their selflessness would be kept extremely close to my heart, forever.
"For this altruistic act, I am proposing that, we, as nations, set a day, before the end of this year, to recognise these courageous workers, citizens, as we wait for a vaccine to be developed." She hoped it would be celebrated every year.
"Continuously fighting this uphill battle against the invisible enemy, the coronavirus disease, which seems unbeatable for now, are these caring, dedicated front-line workers.
"I hope that the entire nation agrees with this view and a motion is passed to have a day of recognition for these selfless citizens."
Bishop also represented TT at the Carifta Triathlon in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Source:  Newsday, May 18, 2020

Twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, with its last recovery, is now among eight Caribbean countries that have brought active cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to zero.
As at 1:52 pm Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) on Friday, May 22, some 21,630 cases have been confirmed across the region. Of that number, 10,372 patients have recovered and been released, while 793 persons have died.
The other seven members of the Caribbean’s elite ‘coronavirus-free’ club are St Kitts, Dominica, Monserrat, Anguilla, Belize, St Lucia, and Saint-Barthélemy.


See the latest situational analysis on COVID-19 in the Caribbean below:Dominican Republic: 254 new cases; 13,657 confirmed. 448 patients have died. (7,366 patients have recovered)
Puerto Rico: 117 new cases; 3,030 confirmed. 126 patients have died. (*No information available on recoveries)
Cuba: Eight new cases; 1,916 confirmed. 81 patients have died. (1,631 recoveries)
Haiti: 71 new cases; 734 confirmed. 25 patients have died. (21 recoveries)
Jamaica: Five new cases; 535 confirmed. Nine patients have died. (181 recoveries)
French Guiana: 12 new cases; 249 confirmed. One patient has died. (137 recoveries)
Martinique: No new cases; 192 confirmed. 14 patients have died. (91 recoveries)
Guadeloupe: No new cases; 155 confirmed. 13 patients have died. (109 recoveries)
Guyana: Two new cases; 127 confirmed. 10 patients have died. (57 recoveries)
Bermuda: No new cases; 125 confirmed. Nine patients have died. (80 recoveries)
Cayman Islands: Ten new cases; 121 confirmed. One patient has died. (55 recoveries)
Aruba: No new cases; 101 confirmed. Three patients have died. (95 recoveries)
The Bahamas: One new case; 97 confirmed. 11 patients have died. (44 recoveries)
Barbados: No new cases; 90 confirmed. Seven patients have died. (70 recoveries)
Sint Maarten: No new cases; 77 confirmed. 15 patients have died. (59 recoveries)
US Virgin Islands: No new cases; 69 confirmed. Six patients have died. (61 recoveries)
St Martin: No new cases; 40 confirmed. Three patients have died. (33 recoveries)
Antigua and Barbuda: No new cases; 25 confirmed. Three patients have died. (19 recoveries)
Grenada: No new cases; 22 confirmed. (17 recoveries)
St Vincent and the Grenadines: One new case; 18 confirmed. (14 recoveries)
Curaçao: No new cases; 16 confirmed. One patient has died. (14 recoveries)
Turks & Caicos Islands: No new cases; 12 confirmed. One patient has died. (10 recoveries)
Suriname: No new cases; 11 confirmed. One patient has died. (Nine recoveries)
British Virgin Islands: No new cases; eight confirmed. One patient has died. (Six recoveries)
Countries without active casesTrinidad and Tobago: No active cases; COVID-19 free. (Previously had 116 confirmed cases, eight patients died)
St Kitts and Nevis: No active cases; COVID-19 free. (Previously had 15 confirmed cases)
Dominica: No active cases; COVID-19 free. (Previously had 16 confirmed cases)
Monserrat: No active cases; COVID-19 free. (Previously has 11 confirmed cases, one patient died)
St Lucia: No active cases; COVID-19 free. (Previously had 18 confirmed cases)
Belize: No active cases; COVID-19 free. (Previously had 18 confirmed cases, two patients died)
Saint-Barthélemy: No active cases; COVID-19 free. (Previously had six confirmed cases)
Anguilla: No active cases; COVID-19 free. (Previously had three confirmed cases)
Source: Buzz Caribbean, May 2020

Poet Roger Robinson has won the £10,000 RSL Ondaatje Prize for his “profoundly moving” A Portable Paradise (Peepal Tree Press), which includes a sequence of poems reflecting on the Grenfell Tower fire.
The annual prize rewards the best work of fiction, non-fiction or work of poetry that best evokes a sense of place. A Portable Paradise, which also won the T S Eliot Prize last year, was named the winner on 4th May across the RSL's media channels.
The poet said: “Winning the RSL Ondaatje Prize is great on many levels. Gaining wider recognition for the political issues that are raised in A Portable Paradise is one of the most important things for me, alongside more people reading about the struggles of black communities in Britain which hopefully creates some deeper resonating empathy.”
A writer and educator who has taught and performed worldwide, Robinson was chosen by Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced the black British writing canon.
He is also co-founder of both Spoke Lab and the international writing collective Malika’s Kitchen, alongside being the lead vocalist and lyricist for King Midas Sound.
His work was chosen from a shortlist featuring Robert Macfarlane's Underland (Hamish Hamilton), Elif Shafak's 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (Viking), Jumoke Verissimo's debut A Small Silence (Cassava Republic), Surge by Jay Bernard (Chatto & Windus) and Tishani Doshi's Small Days and Nights (Bloomsbury Circus).
Judge Peter Frankopan branded the winner “a fabulous and ingenious work that seethes in its condemnation of injustices but sparkles in its tenderness and subtlety and revels in celebration at the things that make us all unique”.
Fellow judge Pascale Petit said: “Roger Robinson’s profoundly moving book manages to balance anger and love, rage and craft. Every poem surprises with its imagery, emotional intensity and lyric power, whether dealing with Grenfell, 'Windrush', or a son’s difficult birth, which is also a tribute to a Jamaican nurse. This is a healing book, enabling us to conjure our own portable paradises.” Source: TheBookseller.com, May 4, 2020
(Robinson was born in Hackney, London, to Trinidadian parents, and at the age of four went with them to live in Trinidad, returning to England when he was 19[6] in the 1980s. He initially lived with his grandmother in Ilford, Essex, before moving to Brixton, an area of south London that he found more congenial.[8] He describes himself as "a British resident with a Trini sensibility".  He was chosen by arts organisation Decibel as one of 50 writers who have influenced black-British writing over the past 50 years).

The University of the West Indies (UWI) will take part in a study designed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in an effort to find methods to properly treat COVID-19. 
All the university’s regional campuses, including Trinidad and Tobago, will be taking part. 
Speaking on the study at the Ministry of Health’s daily virtual health briefing, Professor Terrence Seemungal, Dean of the UWI Faculty of Medicine, explained that it’s set to be a comparative analysis of four drug treatments, including hydrochloroquine, and standard patient care. 
Standard care refers to the treatment of singular symptoms or the prescription of anti-biotics based on the patient’s individual needs. 
“Patients will be given the opportunity of enrolling in the study; of course, and they can say no and if they say yes, they will have to sign a consent form and further information will be given to them,” he said. 
The study calls for the enrollment of people who are already infected with COVID-19 to participate, but they will be relinquishing some measure of control. 
“If someone opts to go into the study, they cannot say which line of treatment they must get; it is, what we call, randomised and the randomisation process is done by the WHO,” he explained. 
Professor Seemungal says the intention is for scientists to be able to conclusively determine which of the drugs, if any at all, could be effective in treating COVID-19. 
Timelines for the study will range between seven to 14 days depending on which treatment the subject is given. 
The University’s ethics committee will have the last say on whether UWI does end up officially participating in the study. 
Source:  The Loop

Harold La Borde was a Trinidadian sailor and adventurer[1] who from 1969 to 1973 circumnavigated the world in his 40-ft ketch Hummingbird II. He was accompanied by his wife, Kwailan, and his five-year-old son Pierre. As the first known Trinidadian sailors to cross the Atlantic and later to circumnavigate, Harold and Kwailan were awarded the nation's highest honour – the Gold Trinity Cross.
Harold was born in Trinidad, West Indies, on June 18th 1933 (died June 2016), of parents with a rich mixture of blood in their veins – French, African, Spanish and Amerindian (Carib). He was educated at a local Roman Catholic school and began his sailing career by building dinghies, in which he taught himself the rudiments of seamanship, and reading any book about deep-sea sailing that he could lay his hands on. Harold La Borde was determined to get a suitable boat, opting to build one himself.
In his first book, An Ocean to Ourselves (1962), La Borde tells how he built a 26-foot ketch Humming Bird. Harold and Kwailan, who were married in 1959, made their maiden voyage in the 26-foot vessel, Humming Bird, to England in 1960, together with a friend, Buck Wong Chong. The Humming Bird was subsequently sold, and says Harold "is somewhere in Europe."
The La Bordes, always working as a team, took jobs at an Outward Bound school in Nigeria in 1961, after the voyage, but the call of the sea was too strong for the young couple and they returned to Trinidad in 1963, when they started to build the 40-foot ketch Humming Bird II. Their first-born son, Pierre, arrived while work was in progress.
The boat was completed in three years and, after chartering her out to Americans for a further three years in order to raise sufficient funds, the family set out on 2 February 1969[2] on the, now historic, voyage that took them around the world. Harold and Kwailan were both awarded their nation's highest award, the Trinity Cross for their seafaring adventure. Their second son, Andre, was born in Auckland, New Zealand, during the voyage.
Upon their return home, the 40-foot Humming Bird II was purchased by the Trinidad and Tobago Government in 1973, and can be seen in the museum near the lighthouse on South Quay; and according to Harold "is rotting away there. It is a sad thing, especially when you talk about taking care of historical things."
The La Bordes went on to another circumnavigation voyage via Cape Horn (1984–86) in the Humming Bird III.
Harold La Borde T.C. also wrote a further two books with input from his family, wife Kwailan and sons Pierre and André, All Oceans Blue (1977), and Lonely Oceans South (1987).
Documentary films of their travels were made in conjunction with the Government Film Unit, which were also very professionally put together. After retiring from their respective jobs in Trinidad, the La Bordes ran a small family marina in Trinidad's busiest yachting bay. Harold's full-time job was working on the Humming Bird III, every day while Kwailan finished their autobiography which includes all of their sailing voyages to the present, entitled Wind, Sea, and Faith.
Harold La Borde died on June 12, 2016, leaving behind his wife, sons Pierre and Andre, three grandchildren (Shannon, Arama, and Sanchia), and his brothers Rudy and Hugh. 
Source: Virtual Museum of TT, May 1, 2020

rinidad-born Dr Michael Pillai, 28, is one of the ‘heroes’ working on the frontline in a hospital in East Brooklyn, New York.Pillai, who is originally from Diego Martin, is an internal medicine resident and is in his second year of residency.Working through this COVID-19 pandemic happened to fall during his training so he did not have a choice but to work.
“I was needed at the hospital. In a matter of months the way we once knew life had changed. The cases increased rapidly and so did the complications,” Pillai said.
“I’ve worked in the ICU as well as on the admitting team during this period. While in the ICU the entire unit was COVID positive of varying ages. During admittance, more than 90 per cent of admissions to the hospital were due to respiratory problems from COVID-19. It was necessary to create new areas of the hospital to accommodate the amount of COVID-19 patients and residents from all specialties were helping with the work that was necessary,” he added.
Pillai, in sharing his experience with Guardian Media, said the work load increased “exponentially and more was expected of us as physicians.”
He said it has taken an emotional toll both on families and on health care workers including nurses and physicians.
“The death rate increased substantially as did the amount of codes being called for rapidly deteriorating patients. I have personally seen people that I work with who have suffered from this virus that lead them needing critical management. These include; doctors, nurses, clerks, respiratory therapists,” Pillai said.
“Though I would say the number of admissions for COVID-19 has been decreasing comparing last week to the prior week. This virus is affecting people of all ages especially with rapid deterioration in the obese population necessitating ventilator support,” he added.
Pillai said COVID-19 causes a decreased oxygen level amongst some patient called hypoxia, “This lack of oxygen causes respiratory distress necessitating oxygen delivery to these patients by external measures. When these patients do not respond to external measures of oxygen delivery then the decision is made for intubation and connection to a ventilator.”
“Some of these patient’s with COVID-19 develop Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and at this point the chances of successful extubation from the ventilator decreases significantly. It is also important to note that these are with the critical patients,” he added.
Pillai noted that people are also recovering with supportive care such as treating the fevers, adequate hydration and self-isolation, “During this pandemic visitors have not been allowed due to the risk of spread of the virus. That being said, patients’ families have to be called daily with updates on patient care as they cannot see their family members so there are unfortunate cases where people are dying alone under these circumstances.”
This process, he further explained, has been difficult in many aspects “but it is important that we work with what we have and work together to operate as efficiently as possible.”
In giving advice to T&T, Pillai urged all to, “stay at home and refrain from gatherings.”
“Remember to leave your shoes outside your door and wipe your phones and your glasses. We are facing this pandemic together and it is important that we look out for each other and maintain social distance,” he said.
“I often wonder if I would have chosen to go into medicine had I anticipated something like this. In the grand scheme of things we all have our part to play, this just happens to be mine, and I humbly embrace it,” he added. Source: TT Guardian, May 3, 2020

A team of Cuban nurses arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday to assist this country with its COVID-19 efforts.
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh made the announcement while speaking at the daily virtual media briefing on Saturday.
He said the nurses will be quarantined for a 14-day period before they are deployed.
"The Cuban team of nurses of 11 or 12 did in fact arrive yesterday (Friday). We are happy to welcome them to Trinidad and Tobago. As per protocol, they are going to be quarantined for a period of two weeks just to make sure, just like we did with the contingent from Barbados and Suriname," Deyalsingh said.
The Health Minister added that they are Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses.
He noted that there is a shortage of that skill in T&T and local nurses are being trained.
"Once they get the all clear, then we will have them deployed where we need them. These nurses are specialist ICU nurses. In Trinidad and Tobago, we have a shortage of that skill. They are not taking the job of Trinidad nurses. What we are doing in the interim is also training our local nurses in ICU management."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health said in its 4 pm clinical update on May 2, 2020, confirmed that the number of positive cases remains at 116, with eight deaths.
To date, 1,838 samples have been submitted for testing, with 1,517 unique patient tests completed and 312 repeated tests. 
The Ministry said 88 people have been discharged to date, with one additional person discharged from the Home of Football in Couva.
Currently, six patients are still at the Couva Hospital and there are no patients at Caura Hospital.
The Ministry said there are no patients in ICU or HDU. 
Source:  The Loop, May 3, 2020