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Remembering Stephanie Suazo; her Mother continues a Quest for Answers to the heart-crushing loss of a promising 11-year-old

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By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

 

 

#TurksandCaicos, March 2, 2023 – At eleven years old Stephanie Suazo used to play a game with her mother Myriam, pretending to be asleep in bed so her mother would come over and tickle her till she laughed; but on January 29th 2020 when Myriam tickled her daughter she didn’t move, and blood was dripping from her mouth.  Within hours she was declared dead by medical personnel. It seemed impossible, Myriam told us, because only the day before she had taken her daughter to the Cheshire Hall Medical Centre where she was assured her daughter was not seriously ill.

TUESDAY JANUARY 28th, 2020.

Over the phone and with palpable sadness, Myriam relived the moments, saying she had taken the day off that Tuesday and went to the hospital around 6:30 a.m. She waited with Stephanie for around two and a half hours before they could see a doctor and when they finally did,

“[The doctor] just looked at her and asked her how she was feeling and looked at her throat– [the doctor] said maybe she’s coming down with the cold and [prescribed] her some antibiotics, paracetamol and something for her throat, and then said to me, she should be able to go back to school on Thursday.”

She wasn’t okay.

In fact, her autopsy would eventually reveal that Stephanie had viral myocarditis unbeknownst to Myriam and undetected by the doctor.

Allowed to take Stephanie home, the unsuspecting mother, armed with chicken soup and medication prescribed by the TCI Hospitals’ physician, fed and medicated her child with the belief that she would be fine by morning.

As she shared the events, despite holding back tears, Myriam was clear and coherent and recalled with painful precision, the worst day of her life.

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 29th, 2020

Recently hired at the bank and not wanting to take too many days off, Myriam explained she had arranged for her close friend to take care of Stephanie while she went to work. After feeding her daughter and giving her the prescribed medication, Myriam says she made sure Stephanie was comfortable being without her for the day, kissed her and left.

“When I got to work, I told my supervisor that I was not going to take lunch because I wanted to leave early. It‘s just how I am. If I know she’s not well, I can’t be at peace.” she said.

But by around 4 pm, Myriam got a call from her friend who put Stephanie on the phone, she complained of a stomach ache and Myriam immediately made arrangements for them to go to Graceway Medical Centre, but they never made it.

The trip for a second opinion never happened because once Myriam got home intending to head to the doctor (after another phone call in which her daughter complained of ‘feeling cold’) her friend informed, ‘Stephanie was asleep.’ Knowing her daughter’s little game, Myriam went in to tickle her and realized something was very wrong.

“I called her: I said ‘baby’ and she didn’t respond so I knew she was waiting for me to tickle her. I tickled her and she didn’t respond.”  Myriam explained,  “I put my hand under her head and then I took her in my arms, that’s when I saw the blood coming out of her mouth. I started screaming ‘my baby my baby’.”

She immediately called 911 requesting an ambulance, but Myriam says they took too long to arrive.

“I gave them the address over and over– they took forever. I was just screaming so my friend was there doing CPR. [my friend] was pressing her chest and blood was coming out of her mouth. The police arrived first and they continued doing CPR for her and the ambulance still didn’t come. The police had to flash their sirens for them to find the house.”

After that everything was a whirlwind, a blur told she was not allowed in the ambulance, she was driven to the hospital by police and less than an hour after arriving doctors came to tell her that her little girl did not make it, allowing her to say goodbye.

“I was in shock- looking at her like this is not for real,” she told us in tears. “We were always together and I had to leave her at the hospital that night.”

Beside herself with grief Myriam tells us she didn’t sleep, she kept thinking that it wasn’t real, that her daughter would wake up. Her only solace, a kind police officer.

“I was still hopeful like she was going to wake up. I spent the whole night calling Albert, he’s a police officer” she explained to us “He was the one that arrived, and I called him all night. I told him please have someone check the morgue, maybe she might get up. And he told me okay I’m going to have someone check for you.”

The day following Stephanie’s passing Myriam says she was dragged to the police station, and continuously interviewed about Stephanie’s death.

THURSDAY JANUARY 30th  2020

“It was so weird, it almost seemed like they thought I had done something to my daughter; investigating me instead of the hospital. It was a nightmare.”

They took her daughter’s passport, laptop and phone and initially refused to give them back. The hospital released a press statement she explained, without really talking to her, and her daughter’s picture, unauthorized by her, was shared nationally. It was only through the help of a very close friend, whom she describes as more of a mother to her, that Myriam was able to recover her daughter’s personal effects from the police. She claims the police “lied” about finding suspicious searches on her laptop describing it all as a horror story.

The situation with the TCI Hospitals and Stephanie’s medical records was similar.  We were told the documents were only received after a lot of running around, a lot of back and forth.

Today, Myriam feels her matter lacked urgent, respectful attention because she lacked clout.

“I’m just a regular person so it’s like her life doesn’t matter because of that, that’s how I feel. They completely disregarded me like I didn’t even matter. The autopsy results, the bloodwork, they didn’t want to give us anything so we had to keep chasing after them to give it to us.”

She feels that in the aftermath the hospital washed its hands of the incident making her out to be responsible, and now feels duped, like her faith in them was misplaced.

“I’m not God. I don’t know why it happened but I feel that at least I took her to the hospital. I feel like if they had just looked at her properly or done some examinations” she broke off “Don’t just look at her and say nothing is wrong with her. You prescribed her things, I go home and then she’s dead the next day? And everyone acts like it’s normal, it’s nothing.”

THREE YEARS LATER

Myriam continues to have concerns about the strength of the medication prescribed and administered to her daughter.  On this three year anniversary, Magnetic Media is told that  Stephanie’s toxicology report listed several medications as being in the child’s system including ACETAMINOPHEN and PHENIRAMINE which have documented cases, though rare, of cardiac toxicity.

“When the lady gave me the medication I remember telling her those are adult medications and she told me that once a child is 11 years old they start prescribing them adult medications.”

Three years later Myriam just wants justice for her daughter, but time is running out for her to file a case and she needs her daughter’s story to be heard. She said she tried to file a case and her first lawyer agreed to take it, had agreed she had a viable case and expressed suspicion regarding the autopsy results but suddenly backed out.

“Everyone I turn to, no one can help me. I went to another lawyer just the day before yesterday and he said I’m not going to lie to you, there are many people who have taken the hospital to court and they have failed. It’s the hospital and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Stephanie’s autopsy states a probable cause of death as viral myocarditis, a type of heart disease caused when viral infections reach the heart inflaming its muscles and making it difficult to pump blood. Several infections can cause myocarditis including Influenza (flu) virus, Coxsackie virus, Parvovirus, Adenovirus and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Myriam, in telling us about how pleasant and precious and fill of potential Stephanie was, says she is determined to be a champion for her child, even though she is no longer physically here.

“You will never know how it feels until it happens. It’s not going to bring her back but I want her story to be heard and people need to know that she was here. That she had dreams. She was a good and grateful person and so positive,” she said.

Now Myriam cannot bear to be in the place where her daughter passed away and every time she sees someone her daughter’s age, the broken-hearted mother wonders what could have been.

We have reached out to the hospital for answers to these burning questions and about a case which stunned the nation; a case which soon lost steam in the head to head challenge against the then unprecedented uniqueness of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

While TCI Hospitals, following our news report in TCI Top Stories (audio newscast) has responded to the mother with the intention of ensuring Myriam is supplied her daughter’s records; it was a short-lived hope for something more, as the family is already in possession of those records.

On the belief and allegation of her family that the death of young Stephanie Suazo back in 2020 was due to medical negligence or incompetence of some sort, we continue to await a formal statement from InterHealth Canada TCI Hospitals.

Bahamas News

Camp Inclusion tours Nassau Cruise Port

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NASSAU, The Bahamas – Participants of the Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting’s Camp Inclusion, including the camp’s student advocates, recently toured Nassau Cruise Port in a move designed to produce multiple benefits for the children.

Camp officials said the tour was part of the “moving away” from the old tradition of keeping children with disabilities locked away at home, and towards greater social inclusion for persons with disabilities – especially children.

Facilitated by the Community Affairs Division of the Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting at the Flamingo Gardens Family Life Centre, the camp is a collaborative effort between the Ministry, its Community Affairs and Disability Affairs Divisions, the Bahamas Coalition of Advocates for Disability Awareness and Service (BaCADAS), and the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD). The majority of the Camp Instructors are persons with disabilities.

The Camp is in keeping with the Global Family Day 2024 theme of “Embracing Diversity, Strengthening Families,” and is an extension of the Ministry’s continued efforts to take the lead in ensuring access and inclusion for all — particularly the community of persons with disabilities — in every aspect of society.

Children with different levels and types of disabilities, along with student advocates, participated. Its focus was to ensure that participating youth learn about living with mobility and intellectual disabilities, advocacy, inclusion and accessibility.

Mr. Townsley Roberts, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, said the visit is expected to have a number of expected outcomes.

“It was very important to get the kids out and for them to see parts of the island that they rarely get a chance to experience,” Mr. Roberts said. “It was also an opportunity for them to feel a part of the Bahamian society because many times they are kept at home or just in the classroom (and) so this gives them a chance to spread their wings; an opportunity to dream. You never know, something they saw today can spark their imaginations and some may become artists, want to work in the tourism field or even just to try and experience a cruise. The ability to dream, to feel a part of society, to feel included, is important to the growth of all children, including persons with disabilities.”

Mr. Roberts applauded officials at Nassau Cruise Port for agreeing to the tour, which he said also allowed chaperones to inform the student advocates of some of the aspects that makes a facility accessible and inclusive.

“We are so happy that the Cruise Port allowed us the opportunity to come and tour the facility. As the name of the camp goes, what we are promoting is inclusion — total inclusion in all aspects of Bahamian society including the culture, and the open spaces. We want to make sure that all spaces are accessible and one of the things we know, because we had the opportunity to inspect the cruise port, is that the Port is accessible to persons with disabilities. So why not bring the children – including the student advocates — here as a means of helping them to understand and to witness first-hand what accessibility means and how it, or the lack of accessibility, affects the lives of persons with disabilities.”

Mr. Antoine Munroe, a Camp Instructor and employee of the Disability Affairs Division of the Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting, said access and inclusion ensures that every person is able to achieve the same outcomes whether in social, educational, or employment settings, and are the best methods of ensuring that persons with disabilities are given the same opportunities to participate in society. He applauded the inclusion of the student advocates in the camp.

“It is a passion of my own to see young people included and exposed to the life of persons with disabilities. Being able to tour the facility gave me an understanding of how I can use my cane to move about with a little assistance and I thought that was very, very smooth. I congratulate those persons who were able to cause this to happen, and also the persons in charge of the Nassau Cruise Port.  I think this is a very good step in the right direction,” Mr. Munroe added.

 

Release: BIS

(BIS Photos/Patrice Johnson)

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Bahamas News

National Commission for Persons with Disabilities gauges ‘accessibility’ at ZNS, BIS as part of ongoing inspection schedule

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NASSAU, The Bahamas – Inspectors attached to the Inspectorate Division of the Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) conducted assessments of the facilities at the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas, and Bahamas Information Services, Tuesday (July 23) as part of their ongoing efforts to ensure that all public facilities, and those private facilities that provide services to members of the public, are accessible for all.

Both entities fall under the remit of the Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting as does the Secretariat.

The team was headed by Mr. Townsley Roberts, Deputy Executive Secretary, Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, and included Mr. G. Michael Ellis, Senior Inspector; Mr. Wesley Paul, Inspector; and Mr. Thorne Clarke, Inspector.

Deputy Executive Secretary Roberts said the inspections were two-fold.

“Today we are inspecting ZNS and BIS which are both a part of the Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting to ensure that they are accessible because it is our belief that we cannot ask the public to do the things required by law without first ensuring that our entities are also in compliance,” Mr. Roberts said.

“People need to understand that accessibility to persons with disabilities is just as important as it is to persons without a disability. We want to be able to go about your day-to-day business without any obstacles in our way.

“What makes us disabled is the built environment, the barriers in front of us. If you remove those barriers, then we can do many of the same things persons without disabilities can do, and sometimes better. So this is what we are about. We are trying to make The Bahamas a place for all persons (and) where it will be comfortable for persons with disabilities to be able to manoeuvre through buildings and other spaces with the same ease and comfort expected by everyone else.”

The inspection team conducted assessments of wheelchair ramps, bathrooms, office spaces, and parking and reception areas, and measured doorway and hallway widths, in addition to other spaces to ensure that the requirements as set out in the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities) Act, 2014, are met.

Mr. Ellis, who spent 34 years as a member of the Royal Bahamas Police Force before retiring as a Senior Police Officer and who brings that same knowledge of the law to his new role, said the inspections help to ensure that the community of persons with disabilities enjoy the same rights to accessibility as any other citizen.

“Persons with disabilities, including those in wheelchairs, persons with walkers, crutches and those who use other assistive devices such as canes, should be able to move around just like everyone else,” Mr. Ellis said.

“We were looking to make sure that there were accessible bathrooms for both males and females, to ensure that there are proper ramps and that the ramps are the proper sizes, to ensure that all of the offices are accessible and all of the other areas are accessible for persons with disabilities.

“The Act says whatever we, as able bodied persons can do, a person with a disability should be permitted or allowed to do the same without any hindrance. Our job is to ensure that these facilities are in compliance with the Act.”

Once inspections are completed, Adjustment Orders are sent to those facilities/businesses found not to be in compliance with the Act, advising them of any faults, and providing a time-frame for compliance.

 

(BIS Photos/Anthon Thompson)

Release: Bahamas Information Services

 

PHOTO CAPTIONS

 

Header:  – ZNS/BCB

Left to right:

1:  G. Michael Ellis – Sr. Inspector (NCPD)
2:  Thorne Clarke – Inspector (NCPD)
3:  Townsley Roberts – Deputy Executive Secretary (NCPD)
4:  Wesley Paul – Inspector (NCPD)
5:  Carlton Smith – Chief Security Officer (BCB)

Insert:  – BIS
Left to right:

1:  Elcott Coleby – Director General (BIS)
2:  Wesley Paul – Inspector (NCPD)
3:  Townsley Roberts – Deputy Executive Secretary (NCPD)
4:  Carlton Smith – Chief Security Officer (BCB)
5:  Thorne Clarke – Inspector (NCPD)
6:  G. Michael Ellis – Sr. Inspector (NCPD)

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Crime

Shooting Incident

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***MEDIA RELEASE***

 

July 23rd, 2024.

 

Around 10:59 am, the Police Control Room received a call of gunshots at a location along the Millennium Highway, Providenciales.

Officers of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force were dispatched and, based on preliminary investigations, were told that the occupant (s) of a red Suzuki Swift was at a business place when another car pulled alongside it, and the occupants started shooting.

The driver of the Swift drove off while the other unidentified vehicle sped off in a separate direction. 

Officers found the Swift abandoned near Miracle Close, Blue Hills, shortly after.

Based on investigations, no injuries were reported.

This remains an active investigation.

The RT&CIPF is asking anyone with information or CCTV footage of the shooting that may assist the police with enquiries to contact 911, the closest police station, the Serious Crime Unit at 231-1842, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8477 and anonymously give any information.

Additionally, persons are being asked to download the Crime Stoppers P3 app.

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