Sprinters accelerate from the blocks during the start of the 100 metres at the Independence Invitational at the George Odlum stadium.

The St Lucia Athletics Association (SLAA) staged the Independence Invitational over the weekend at the George Odlum Stadium/Hospital.
Athletes competed in the following categories over the two days. Under 13 Male and Female, Under 15 Male and Female, Under 17 Male and Female, Male Open,
Female Open.
When registration closed on February 11, the SLAA received entries from 11 clubs and two schools. However come showtime, the overall attendance did not live up to expectations.
In an interview at the stadium Sunday afternoon, SLAA President, Cornelius Breen said: “To say the least I am pleased with the numbers, however, quite a bit of persons who registered to compete did not show up. It’s left us with some serious concerns as to what we need to do to ensure this does not happen again.”
Commenting on the competition Breen said: “It went very well with some good times and athletes putting in excellent performances.”
However, he feels there is lots of room for improvement when it comes to certain field events which were poorly attended.
“The high jump is becoming an area of concern for us In terms of female high jump,” said Breen. “We have to see about getting more kids involved in the number is dismal.
Given the success of our two world ranked high jumpers Levern Spencer and Darvin Edwards and collegiate Jeannelle Scheper, one would think that would be enough to entice athletes to the event. Not so!
Breen is surprised athletes haven’t embraced the sport, in light of the success of these three athletes. He pointed out that the association shoulders some of the blame and need to do their part, by strengthening their respective programs to ensure they attract athletes to the various disciplines.
Breen went on to say “discus and shot putt is also a worrying problem for us. We have people in the events but they don’t have the technique.”
What’s the solution? Here’s what the SLAA President said: “We as an association need to rethink our approach and sit down, work with the coaches, go out to the respective communities and get youngsters into those field events to boost up the sport of track and field.”
Things are not all doom and gloom for the SLAA. They were in a celebratory mood Saturday evening following the conclusion of the National Sports Awards. Two athletes with the association Spencer and Edward came away with the prestigious Sportswoman of the Year and Sportsman of the Year awards. It could have been more.

Albert Reynolds preparing to compete in the javelin event.

Breen said: “I am extremely elated our association came away with both titles. I am happy for them. They put in the effort, the time and it was well deserved.
The SLAA President expressed a bit of disappointment that it was not a clean sweep—Junior Female Sportswoman nominee Jeannelle Scheper (high jump) and Junior Sportsman nominee Denzel St Marthe, lost out to swimmers Siona Huxley and Joshua Runako Daniel.

Written by: Emma Anius

The beauty industry is a multi-billion dollar business taking advantage of our insecurities promotingbeauty ideals that are almost impossible to achieve.

This encourages everyone to be so consumed with how they look and are constantly striving to be perfect.
There are hundreds of beauty products on the market promising unblemished skin, firming, toning and brightening.  Some people go as far as getting medication, even cosmetic surgery to achieve flawless skin.
Instead of spending hundreds every year on cleansers, toners and exfoliators, exercise is a natural, free way to help combat any issues you may have with your skin.
Looking young seems to be in fashion lately, but aging, unfortunately is inevitable and as you age your skin begins to wrinkle.  This is because it is losing collagen.  Collagen is one of the components responsible for the elasticity in the skin, which plumps up the skin and gives you a younger, more vibrant look.
As the collagen begins to fade, wrinkles appear.  Besides getting collagen implants, exercise is an easier, cheaper and safer way to promote collagen in the skin cells.  This means instead of paying hundreds, even thousands of dollars to get Botox or a facelift, if you simply started to exercise it could help keep that natural youthful look.
A lot of people avoid exercise because they think that sweating can bring about acne flare-ups. The truth is that sweating flushes out the impurities in the skin, cleaning out the skins pores. Vigorous exercise can even correct hormonal imbalances that can trigger spots, therefore reducing the likelihood of breakouts.
Any physical activity you do on a daily basis will prevent stress-related acne as it lowers your stress levels. Although research is still being done on the link between the skin and stress; studies have shown the gland that produces oil in the skin (sebaceous gland) is influenced by the stress hormone. Excess oil in the skin can lead to blemishes and acne flare-ups therefore incorporating exercise into your daily life can help reduce your breakouts by decreasing stress levels.
Exercise really helps your skin get that revived, fresh look and it also helps with the underlying colour and tone of the skin.  It helps give your skin a healthy glow so no more use for blusher in the make-up bag!  As you exercise your heart rate goes up and circulates more blood and oxygen to the skin. As the blood goes to the surface of the skin it brings nutrients and removes toxins and the oxygen helps to repair any damage that has been done to your skin. This is one of the reasons why your skin looks healthy and radiant after a good workout.
Besides exercise helping to stop the appearance of wrinkles and decrease breakouts it also makes you feel better about yourself. As you exercise your body releases endorphins, this is the body’s natural ‘feel good’ chemical.  When it is released your mood is boosted, and when you feel good about yourself your self-confidence improves.
Exercise not only helps you lose weight, decrease your chances of suffering certain diseases but it also helps achieve that flawless natural look that everybody craves.
Looking after your body is the key to healthy living
If you have no time to exercise or don’t know where to begin:

Beginner:
Medicine ball twists x 20, bridge x 15, side lunge x 10, squat x 10, plank x 30 seconds
Advanced:
Medicine ball twists x 50, bridge x 25, side lunge x 20, squat x 15, plank x 60 seconds
•    For help with the exercises go to www.facebook.com/cyanfitness and view the photos.

Note: Emma Anius is a Personal Trainer for Cyan Fitness promoting a ‘healthy life and a better you.’

Email: emma@cyanfitness.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cyanfitness

Reports were that the meeting had to do with the appointment of Ausbert Regis as Special Advisor on Security in the prime minister’s office and the fact that several top ranking police officers including Vernon Francois was still acting in his post.

Speaking with the media at Police headquarters the Security Minister confirmed that Ausbert Regis had been made Special Advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office. Regis sued the United Workers Party government two years ago over his transfer to another department. In a judgment released just before the 2011 general elections it was ordered that Regis be reinstated as police commissioner. The new government had yet to reinstate Regis and instead had continued to extend Vernon Francois time as acting commissioner.

More on this story in Saturday’s STAR.

L-R: Rick Wayne, movie star Carl Weathers (Rocky’s Apollo Creed) and Hollywood gym proprietor Vince Gironda.

I am heading out to lunch on a typically glorious June Friday in California when my office phone starts to ring. Should I answer? A colleague at Weider Publications thinks I should. All week I’ve been waiting to hear from one of bodybuilding’s premier targets of female lust—who has promised me his first interview since his decision to come out of the closet. With high expectations, I pick up the receiver.
“Hello, can I help you?”

It turns out that few people knew the real O.J.Simpson.

A gurgling noise at the other end is quickly replaced by a voice straight out of The Twilight Zone: “Ricky Wayne? Hey, well, this is Gironda. Vince Gironda. And I’m drunk. I wouldn’t have the balls to call you sober!”
I can hardly believe my ears. Could this really be him? The legendary trainer of Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia? The genius who famously had produced at his north Hollywood gym California’s two most renowned Dons—Don Howorth and Don Peters—and a constellation of other West Coast superstars, not least among them Clint Eastwood in the time of Rawhide? Even the oddly named, soon to be numinous 21-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger, the day after he arrived at LAX from Munich, before he took up more or less permanent residence at Gold’s in Santa Monica, had trekked to Vince’s in Studio City just to press the proprietor’s flesh. I, on the other hand, had been three weeks in the City of Lost Angels following a prolonged hiatus in my native Saint Lucia, and had not even once thought about him—not until he called me!
“Hi, there, Vince,” I said, more than a little self-conscious. “How’re you doing? It’s been a while.”
“I’m drunk,” he said, for the second time in barely ten seconds. “I’m calling to let you know a courier is headed your way with my gym’s front-door key. I want you to train here. If you go anywhere else I’ll die from friggin’ shame.”
“Well,” I said, “I’m highly honored, Vince, but the truth is I’ve hardly touched the weights since leaving New York for the Caribbean more than two years ago.”
“In that case,” he groaned, “don’t you think it’s time you got going again? Ciao.”
We’d met for the very first time nearly a quarter century earlier, in 1962, when England was still home to me and he had come to London on a specific mission to take the year’s Mr. Universe trophy home with him to California—a slightly over-ambitious proposition, as it turned out. At about five-six and hardly heavier than 160 pounds, Vince Gironda must’ve been on the recalled occasion the smallest contender on the overloaded stage of the internationally renowned Scala Theater. The top professional and amateur awards had gone that year to the home-grown hero Len Sell and to the USA’s Joe Abbenda, respectively. But for months afterward, British fans had talked mainly about  Gironda’s chiseled abdominals and his awesome posing, and the hell with the fact that the best he had managed was to place second in his class.
At the party that ritually followed the awards ceremony, someone introduced us. Gironda wore a black Stetson and highly polished, brass-studded pointy-toed black cowboy boots. He spoke kindly of my own bodybuilding achievements up to that time and was especially generous with his comments about my writing. He said my style and humor reminded him of the former strongman-turned-Hollywood columnist Earle Liederman who for several years had moonlighted for Joe Weider’s Your Physique and Muscle Power magazines. Liederman passed away in 1970.
Three weeks went by before I acted on Vince’s invitation to train at his gym. The well-built affable young man at the reception desk welcomed me. He said he and his regular patrons, mainly Hollywood hotshots, had for several days been anticipating my heralded visit. My second surprise was that the famous gym was not much larger than the weight room of a small hotel. But there was nothing ordinary about the exercise equipment, much of it designed, I soon learned, by the “iron guru” Gironda himself.
The receptionist handed me the key to my own locker and then introduced me to some of his star clients, among them William Blinn, who wrote the screenplay for Alex Haley’s Roots.  Also sweating in his white-trimmed blue Vince’s workout vest
was Carl Weathers, once a football star, now about to start work as Apollo Creed in Sylvester Stallone’s Oscar-winning first Rocky. Ned Beatty, one of the lead actors in Deliverance (also an Oscar winner), was huffing and puffing under a pair of dumbbells. And furiously pumping his biceps was a pale and somewhat pudgy character I immediately recognized as the star of the hit TV series Beretta. He had also starred unforgettably in In Cold Blood, the 1967 hit movie based on Truman Capote’s bestselling novel of the same name. For reasons neither proffered nor queried, my muscular young guide chose to steer clear of Robert Blake.
I met the main man two or three days later. He regretted not having been there to show me around on my initial visit. He’d been away “vacationing in
Hawaii,” he said. Already I had learned from his movie-star regulars that the quoted words were code for “in rehab” but I could hardly wait to take my first workout under his direction. Before that, however, he would explain why there were no squat racks at his gym (“squats do nothing for the thighs and everything bad to the butt—including hemorrhoids!”); why he eschewed bench pressing with a barbell on a flat bench (“only flyes and parallel bar dips, with hands turned inwards, do for the chest what’s expected from bench pressing!”) and why wide-grip pull-downs don’t develop the lats, only the biceps (too many complicated reasons to list here).
Suffice it to say that under Vince’s tutoring my training proved so effective that I seriously set my sights on the year’s Mr Olympia. Alas, just two weeks before the big event, when almost everyone agreed I was in the finest form of my bodybuilding life, an old shoulder injury returned with a vengeance to thwart my Olympian ambitions.
Several weeks earlier Vince had interrupted me during a training session. “Take a breather,” he said, “I want to introduce you to a real gentleman,” as if in all of the United States there was a man, woman or child, black or white, who would not immediately have recognized O.J. Simpson from any distance. His record performances on the football field, his movie appearances, not to mention his TV commercial for Hertz, had not only made him rich but also second in popularity only to Muhammad Ali.
I recall a particularly hot August morning at Vince’s: my workout done, I had retreated to the locker room where three or four movie-industry heavies awaited their turn in one of the always-occupied five showers. Small-talking with them was the famous proprietor, his shock of curly gray hair covering most of his chiseled face. He was holding forth on his favorite topic, the evils of bodybuilding on steroids, when O.J. stepped out of the shower, dropped his towel in a nearby bin and approached our group, his famous horse appendage swinging “like a pendulum do”—to borrow from Roger Miller’s famous song. Just then someone pushed open the connecting door between the locker room and the workout area. Vince abruptly forgot about steroids to address him.
“Bobby!” he growled. “Why couldn’t you be half as nice as O.J.? Why must you always be such an asshole?” The star of Beretta had long grown accustomed to hearing Vince’s makeover hints. Without a word, Robert Blake retrieved his gym bag from his locker, turned around to face Gironda, then in perfect imitation of a Sunset Strip transvestite whore, rolled his yes, pursed his lips a la Jessica Rabbit, and blew his tormentor a great big monster kiss before heading out the gym, his Jell-O ass aflutter.
The side-splitting locker room episode came to mind several years later, by which time I had persuaded Mae, a bodybuilding star in her own right, to come to Saint Lucia and help me set up STAR Publishing. Like millions the world over, we too were captivated by the initial CNN reports on the 1994 murders of Nicole Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. As we sat in our living room mesmerized by the televised, now most famous chase in the history of the Los Angeles Highway Patrol, I had a particularly difficult time believing one of the two individuals belting down Interstate 405 aboard that unforgettable white Ford Bronco was the sole suspect in the Bundy Drive killings. Then again, back in the day it seemed everyone considered him the most affable, most desirable man in the world. Wife beating was just about the last thing anyone would’ve associated with O.J. Simpson—let alone double murder!
Now fast forward to 2003: Mae and I are at Miami Airport, waiting to board our connecting flight to the Bahamas. We are scheduled to cover the annual Miss Bahamas beauty pageant and a related fashion show. Accompanying us is the editor of our newspaper Molly McDaniel, an Australian. At one point the two ladies decide to do some window-shopping. I choose to kill time browsing several magazines earlier acquired.
Mae and Molly were halfway up the escalator when I looked up to see them giggling and staring at someone or something left of them, on the down steps. I absent-mindedly followed their gaze then quickly returned to my Vanity Fair. And then it hit me. Talk about delayed reaction. It had suddenly occurred to me, though not to the two ladies, that the arresting figure in white tee shirt and jeans on the down escalator was none other than my old workout buddy from Vince’s.
Our eyes met, up went our arms as in unison we shouted each other’s first names.  We hugged and punched each other lightly on the biceps, like close friends happy to meet again after many years in different zones. And then I noticed the scores of inquiring eyes that had also recognized O.J. and now were doubtless wondering whether I might be his often whispered about mystery partner-in-crime. We reminisced for a while, O.J. and I, about hilarious episodes at Vince’s, and then I said: “Hey, what’s with you guys, anyway? First it was Carl [Weathers] with his tabloided wife problems, then you, and now Bobby Blake!”
O.J. chuckled without comment. He seemed more interested in telling me about his great interview with a Miami TV station soon after the 67-year-old Blake was arrested in L.A. for the murder of his own wife, 44-year-old Bonny Lee Blakely. O.J. had taken the opportunity then to offer Blake the following free advice: “Whatever else you do,don’t talk to the cops without your lawyer present.” He had done the precise opposite, he told me, “and lived to regret it!”
And I thought, yeah, right, precisely what Blake most needed in his circumstances: to be associated in the public mind with The Most Hated Man in America! I asked how he spent his time since relocating to Florida. O.J. said he played a lot of golf although a worsening bad knee made that increasingly difficult. When I enquired about Fred Goldman and the singular Denise Brown, the light suddenly left his eyes. “Fuck ‘em!” he grimaced. Presumably he referred only to Ms Brown!
Consider now the following, taken from Dominick Dunne’s 2001 bestseller, Justice. Dunne is recalling details from the so-called Trial of the Century: “The O.J. of the trial is a more muted presence in the courtroom that the O.J. of the hearings, when he allowed his exasperation to show through grimaces, eye rolls, and, on occasion, audible comments or angry gestures. No more. Now he’s like a Thoroughbred, behaving perfectly almost all the time, presumably on instructions from Johnnie Cochran, his slick lead lawyer, who dominates the courtroom. In this passive role Simpson is playing, his inner light has dimmed. Sometimes I feel that he needs verification that his power still exists, outside of the defense team whom he is paying.
“Recently, by chance, our eyes met. After all this time, it was our first contact and we held it. The look in his eye was wary at first, as if he was unsure of my sentiments—was I friend or foe?—but then, for a fraction of a second, his expression softened. I saw and felt that famous devastating charm his friends have told me about. If he were not the defendant in a double-murder trial, he would have had me in the palm of his hand. Apparently, though, Simpson’s passivity is only for public consumption.”
Several days after my weekend in the Bahamas, I wondered why I had not invited O.J. to make a personal appearance in Saint Lucia. He’d have had the whole island in the palm of his hand and happily paying for the privilege.
As for Vince Gironda: the last time we spoke he had just returned from yet another “Hawaiian vacation.” He phoned me at Weider’s one afternoon to say he desperately needed to see me. Days earlier, he had stumbled smelly into the gym and looking like he’d spent the night in a fish restaurant’s garbage bin. One of his caring early morning students had been daft enough to ask how he was and that was all it had taken to set Vince off. For the next 30 minutes or so expletives spewed out of him like raw waste from a busted sewer line.
In the gym locker room the following morning he tried to apologize but I interrupted him. I bear-hugged him, told him I realized he was going through a bad patch and that I was confident he’d soon take care of whatever was the cause. I pretended I was late for an appointment and promised we’d talk again soon. I did not set eyes on him again for until a month or soon later, when we bumped into each other on a rainy evening outside the gym. He appeared fit, tanned and bushytailed as he and Carl Weathers engaged in deep muted conversation. When at last he was ready for me, he said: “Ricky, I just wanted to thank you for not letting me grovel the other day. I felt so ashamed . . .”
News of Vince’s passing reached me in Saint Lucia months after the fact. Whatever his death certificate might say to the contrary, I remain to this day convinced the iron guru died of a broken heart when hard times forced him to abandon his one true love: Vince’s Gym. After that, life for him simply wasn’t worth the trouble it took to arrange another Hawaiian vacation.

Acting Police Commissioner Vernon Francois (seated) with Assistant Commissioner Errol Alexander (L) and Deputy Commissioner Moses Charles.

It was almost as if he knew all along it was coming—another visa issue to remind of the precedent set in respect of Richard Frederick’s election-time revocation. Over and over he had challenged the special treatment being handed the Central Castries MP by both the then opposition party and by his UWP Cabinet colleagues. Several times he had suggested how wrong and unfair it was to be talking about public perception as if that were something equal to being proven guilty as charged.
In his first Sunday TALK of the new year on Choice TV, Rick Wayne painted systematically a picture of the mess the new government now faced, having acknowledged that yes, a visa issued a leading member of the police force had been canceled. Should the new government decide without any evidence that the officer’s visa had been revoked for possibly criminal reasons? If so, what to do about it? Demand that he be fired? Transfer him? Demote him?
Said the talk-show host on Sunday evening: “I have said it at least a hundred times. I have no special interest in Richard Frederick. I am concerned only with justice. A particular attitude was  adopted by both the opposition and the day’s government with regard to the cancelation of Richard Frederick’s US visa. In not so many words, the message was that the US authorities had for years been investigating Frederick and now had proven their case. What case? That was left to the imagination.
“When the day’s prime minister announced that no reason was given him for the minister’s visa revocation, he was dismissed as ‘the Lyin’ King.’ Well now the shoe is on the other foot. Can the present prime minister now tell the nation the reason Frederick’s visas were canceled? Does he know why the top-ranking police officer’s visa was revoked?”
Wayne recalled the then PM King had decided, before making a public announcement, to have his overseas diplomats inquire from the US authorities why they had cancelled Minister Frederick’s visa and finally an embassy official had written the then PM to say he was “not at liberty to say why.”                 The general response, especially from the then opposition party was that the prime minister was withholding information from the public in the best interests of his election chances.
“Over and over,” Wayne recalled, “people who obviously knew better were saying the US authorities wouldn’t dream of canceling a minister’s visa without explanation. A wonderful gift had fallen in the opposition’s lap and they used it to full advantage against the King administration. Well now, the plague has come back to haunt its inventors.
What applied to Frederick must now be applied
in the case of the police officer whose visa was canceled.”
The show host went on: “All of a sudden everyone in Saint Lucia knew exactly how the CIA operates. How long they take to do things and how persistent they are. No one stopped to consider the fact that there wasn’t a single case involving a visa when the US authorities issued the reasons behind their decision.”
Moreover: “You and I know that the high-ranking officer now in the spotlight is but a step away from the rank of police commissioner.     This police officer carries the responsibility for the nation’s security. So what’s to happen to him? Do we demand punitive action against him even with no idea why his visa was revoked? Do we act toward this member of the police force as we acted toward a Cabinet minister in the same position? Hey we don’t know the real reason for the revocation but it’s a safe guess it would have to be something negative, something criminal!”
Dramatically, Wayne said: “The ticking you hear is a time bomb called the Saint Lucia Police Force.” He said he had been reliably informed that a woman was recently denied a US on the ground that American Embassy had decided not to issue visas to any member of the force until an ongoing investigation had been completed.
“Yes,” said Wayne, “the applicant was herself a police officer.”
He saved the best for last: “At the time of the Richard Frederick visa situation I did some investigating and discovered that shortly before the action against Frederick the Americans had sought certain information concerning the deaths of a number of notorious citizens, which were being openly talked about here as extra-judiciary executions. The embassy officials heard the stories, both over Newsspin as well as some very important local mouths directly. They interviewed police officers here, to no avail. They questioned government ministers, to no avail. And it was only following those failed investigations that Frederick’s visas were canceled.”
He cited examples in other parts of the Caribbean where there was talk about police officers as members of death squads and the reaction of the US embassy.
He went on: “Vernon Francois seems to be our most liked commissioner with the populace, precisely because he put a stop to the spate of killings. But it is precisely that that the Americans are interested in. They have heard the rumours, they have heard from  certain very influential mouths and they decided to take certain actions. There will be more revocations!”

Kids march to instill National Pride

The RC Boys Infant School kicked off their Independence celebrations in grand style on Friday February 17th. The school added a new feature to its usual observance of St Lucia’s Independence with an event dubbed, “Walking with National Pride.”
Principal Andrewna Gill was very excited about the initiative and explained to the STAR the reasons for putting on such an event.
“We thought we needed to put a twist to Independence celebrations this year,” she said while adding, “and not only that, but we wanted to alert the public, create an awareness that Independence is approaching, so when people would see the boys, they would be reminded of Independence next week.”
In the past, she says, Infant students are not directly involved in the activities leading up to Independence in St Lucia and “we felt that this was a foundation for them as we prepare them for a bright future.”
She further stated, “They need to develop the culture of what it is to be a St Lucian from a tender age so that when they grow older, they will not forget about their national pride.”
Many parents turned out in support of the initiative as they took to the streets with students. The march started off on Brazil Street onto Chausee Road, then through to Waterworks Road, Entrepot, Independence City, Marchand and Riverside Road.                 Originally, Mrs Gill said, the school intended on taking the walk into the heart of town and onto John Compton Highway where the boys would be more visible and an even greater impact on the spectators but according to her, the Police department insisted on the final route for security reasons.
However, the school’s principal is already focused on next year’s event where she hopes the original route will be pursued.
Coordinator of the event, Alissa Mathurin hopes the event will become an annual independence activity based on early success assessments. However, she believes there is still much room for further development of the event.
“The initiative is truly a total team effort with students, staff and parents who are all committed to realizing an event which will make all St Lucians proud,” she said.
The boys included in their walk a display of placards as a form of tribute to outstanding leaders and cultural icons in St Lucia. Over 200 students and parents took part in the activity.

Doctors at work at Tapion Hospital

On the night of Friday 17^th February, 2012 first world medicine was achieved at Tapion Hospital, Saint Lucia.

On 14^th February, a 20 year old male from Micoud, was transferred from St. Jude’s Hospital, after sustaining severe chest trauma due to motor vehicular accident.

After initial assessment and CT scan of the head and chest, severe chest trauma with bilateral pneumothorax (air between chest and the lung), massive progressive surgical emphysema (air under the skin) and severe lung damage were diagnosed.

Despite treatment to remove the air, the severely damaged lungs could not function properly. He developed severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, which required mechanical ventilation and care in the High Dependency Unit at Tapion Hospital.

The patient’s condition remained critical. After consultations with specialists in Saint Lucia, Barbados and Martinique, the doctors and family agreed to airlift the patient to the University Hospital in Martinique for complex ICU care.

Several attempts over several hours were made by the Martinique Air Ambulance crew to transfer the patient, but the deterioration of the fragile lung function and high risk of dying during transportation necessitated another approach.

There was an absolute need for an artificial lung machine – ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) for the patient to survive. This is a lifesaving surgical procedure of last resort, enabling a machine to do the function of the failed lung.

A second team of cardio-thoracic surgeon and perfusionist with ECMO machine arrived at 9 30pm on Friday night at the Tapion Hospital, to perform the surgery on site. The ECMO procedure was performed successfully with the support of the Tapion team, and patient transferred to Martinique.

This procedure was the first in the OECS. It is only performed in developed countries with tertiary health care systems able to facilitate cardiac surgery, heart transplants, severe cardiogenic shock, cardiac arrest or respiratory failure.

Tapion Hospital was pleased to be part of this first world intervention, as it continues to build capacity in state of the art health care in Saint Lucia.

The Tapion Hospital wishes to thank the French Government and the Doctors of the La Meynard Hospital as well as the Government of St. Lucia through the French Embassy here in St. Lucia and the St. Lucian Consul in Martinique.

Second Vice President of the St Lucia Manufacturers Association Alison Plummer.

The excitement has already begun to mount for the first ever SMA Quality Awards that will come to life on Saturday, March 3 at the Sandals Halcyon Resort from 7pm. The St Lucia Manufacturers Association is presenting the event, which comes with much anticipation, in an effort to “drive excellence and quality improvement in the manufacturing sector, and create a platform for development and enhancement of export readiness of its members.”
The deadline for submission of applications from companies who wished to be part of proceedings was in October 2011 and according to Alison Plummer, second vice-president of the grouping, the SMA saw an overwhelming response from more than 60 percent of their membership. As part of requirements participants were audited during the period November to January by an independent certified Quality Management Systems’ auditor under five categories including leadership, standards and best practices, product and customer service quality, human resource development and social responsibility (company relations with the environment, employees and the community).
“It’s the first Quality Awards Program being run in St Lucia,” Plummer told the STAR. “The reports from the auditors were reviewed by a team of judges under the guidance of regional consultant Dr Winston Harvey from Barbados.”
The objective of the awards program is to help companies reach world class standards and the team of judges includes the director of the Office of Private Sector Relations, (who also happens to be in charge of the trade and export promotion agency, which was responsible for implementing the national export strategy), director of the St Lucia Bureau of Standards, Omar Davis, a financial consultant and a senior manager of ECFH Global Investments.
“The awards is being used as a developmental tool,” Plummer elaborated. “Companies received a copy of the auditing report and were given a tool kit with detailed guidelines of what is required for good leadership. It is not a competition, but rather companies will be recognized once they get a minimum score of 75 percent under each category.”
There are three levels in each category for judging: the gold level, platinum and the diamond achievement.
“The platinum level is higher than the gold because as the levels increase it demonstrates a greater maturity in company processes. This is not a product quality award. We’re looking at performance excellence and companies will be recognized for organizational processes. By the time a company gets to the third level, the diamond level, that company would have to demonstrate that they are measuring their performance to determine how effective their processes, and that they are using those results to make decisions in the board room and to continuously improve. Companies at that level of classification would almost be classified as learning companies because they are constantly evolving and making decisions based on measurements. A great deal of companies in St Lucia may fall short.”
The judging criteria is linked to categories of Leadership, Implementation of Standards and Best Practices, Product and Customer Service Quality, Marketing Strategies, Human Resource Development and Social Responsibility. Awards include the Minister’s Award for Innovation and the Presidents Award.
“We’re pleased at the willingness of the number of companies who came out to participate just to learn from the process,” Plummer commented. “We normally hear that companies are not open to volunteer that sort of information or have people in to audit but now in the face of competition companies are realizing there is no other option than to go through this route. ECFH funded the entire auditing process and for that they deserve to be commended. We’ve received lots of support all around, even from the government.”
The main focus of the Quality Awards is development and the program is based on a rigorous third party assessment of companies against internationally recognized standards developed in conjunction with the St Lucia Bureau of Standards.
“We felt it necessary to recognize the good work of the companies and in a scientific and objective manner recognize them for performance. We have a variety of levels of development in our membership; small and large manufacturers, some of which have been around for over 40 years. Over the years we have found that it’s not easy to tap into what these companies are doing locally, but now with the program we’re hoping to facilitate that sharing of information so we can identify what one company is really good at; human resource development for example, then we can see if another company is better at another experience so companies can benefit from each others experiences.”
The Quality Awards evening, which forms part of the calendar of activities for the celebration of St Lucia’s 33rd year of Independence, will portray a national theme highlighting local products, fashion and services.
Baron Foods is the Platinum sponsor while gold sponsors include Duboulay’s Bottling, St Lucia Distillers, Lucelec, SLASPA, CFL, ECFH, Digicel and Windward and Leeward Brewery.   Contributing sponsors include Bay Gardens,
SLDB and Harris Paints.

This photo was taken on the beach when Whitney Houston and her then husband Bobby Brown rang in the New Year at the Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort in Saint Lucia in 2005.

Last Saturday evening, my friends and I were imbibing local spirits, savoring seafood delicacies in the yard outside my home and listening to a Whitney Houston album that one of my sons had put on to test the new computerized and digital stereo set he’d replaced my old radio/cassette/CD home system with. The song was the singer’s all-time hit “I Will Always Love You.”
(My friend) Nigel’s mobile phone rang. He stepped away to take the call, but his face turned sour the moment he answered. He asked, somewhat loudly: “What?”                 Then he looked me in the eyes and pointed to the window. His telephone still alight in the pointing hand, Nigel told us, still sounding somewhat deflated, “Somebody just told me Whitney Houston just died. She said they said they found her dead in a bathroom in a hotel in Beverly Hills.”
The rest of us didn’t know whether to laugh or not. It sounded like a joke, but Nigel’s face was dead serious. Another two calls came in to others, both with the same news—and we knew it was true: yet another top internationally acclaimed female singer of world fame and fortune had died suddenly. The last was Britain’s superstar Amy Winehouse, who virtually drank herself to death
in the prime of her time. Before her, it was Michael Jackson, who’d become addicted to sleeping drugs. And there were so many others before them . . .
Fame, fortune and addiction continue to take away the best of the best in the music world in the prime of their time. It’s been happening from Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley in the 60s to Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix in the 70s, all the way up to Jackson, Winehouse—and now Houston—all in less than two years. Each had an addiction to some escape drug or substance.
Coroners have ruled out violence or foul play in Houston’s death, but she was found under water in her hotel’s bathroom. Her exact cause of death will not be officially known or determined until the results of toxicology tests than can take weeks. But her self-confessed addiction to drugs and its effects on both her health and her singing have been matters of public record as the world watched her deteriorate of late.
So, what is it that drives the best of the best to the worst end they could ever have imagined at the height of their fame and fortune? Sociologists, psychologist and researchers into the lifestyles of the rich and famous say their fans never know or understand the loneliness, broken lives, heartaches, headaches and other personal pressures that great performing artistes sometimes endure. Not all do, but many live from personal crisis to crisis that breeds a deep level of personal unhappiness that requires solutions that money simply can’t buy.
In many cases the crises evolve around failed marriages or relationships, multiple failed business partnerships, or even the stress of overwork from stage and studio performances between social celebrity flings and the other excesses that go with life in the Hollywood fast lane. These stars are presented and seen in all their glitter and glamour, but in many cases their voices and faces mask the real broken feelings that they live with from day to day, city to city, country to country, gig to gig.
The pressures of merely surviving to stay alive most times forces them to end up hiring high-priced doctors to invent ways and means of legally feeding their dependent drug fantasies or addictions, whether through under-the-counter, non-prescription drugs or through use of very expensive and rare but potentially deathly clinically prescribed drugs.
The sporting world has shown how even some of the best athletes use similar though less deadly performance enhancing drugs, leading to the anti-doping bodies having adopted policies and penalties that can and do result in lifetime bans, at worst. But not so in the world of music and movie stardom, where performers adored by millions hardly recover from drug overdoses or other complications that snuff their lives away, much earlier than expected.
Whitney Houston was only 48 when she died at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on the evening before she was to attend the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. She’d sold over 170 million albums, won five Grammy Awards and won more than 22 types of international music and film awards. She sang to audiences the world over— including China in 2004—and was admired by millions in Asia, Africa, Australia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean.
She lived the dreams of others, but the hugely popular singer’s 14-year marriage to fellow star Bobby Brown was a very long nightmare. She sought salvation from drugs and in 2001 she appeared so thin at a Michael Jackson concert that it was rumoured the next day that she had died. Then in 2002, after confessing she took cocaine, Houston told America’s ABC News TV presenter Diane Sawyer: “The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy.”
The enormously talented and popular singer started heading downhill lately. Houston entered and left drug rehab programs repeatedly as she struggled between reality and fantasy at the turn of the century. She tried new relationships that didn’t last. Her performances were lacklustre. Unable to sing in her trademark high tone, she eventually needed hi-tech applications to soothe and smooth her voice out.
Just hours before her death she had been
filmed leaving a late night outing to head to her hotel before a star-studded Hollywood party later that evening (at the same hotel) that’s thrown every year, in her honour, by the mentor Clive Davis, who discovered her as a talented young gospel singer at age 19. She was also to appear at the Grammy awards the following evening.
Houston grew up in good singing company: veteran American Soul singer Dione Warwick was Houston’s cousin and fellow diva Aretha Franklin was her god-mother. She had all the money and fame and basked in the glamour of her well-earned earned glory.
By the late 1980s, she had become one of the world’s best-selling artists and the most successful soul singer of all time, notching up worldwide album sales of US $200 million.
The singer also became a successful Hollywood film star. In 1992 she starred in “The Bodyguard” alongside Kevin Costner, from which emerged her memorable all-time hit “I Will Always Love You”, which won the Grammy Record of the Year and remained at the top
of the US charts for several weeks.
Yes, Whitney Houston had it all—except happiness. She rose to the top of the musical world and remained there for more than half her life on earth. But it was the very excesses that go with the lifestyles of many of the most rich and famous, that sent so many like her to their earthly graves.
In pursuit of elusive happiness, troubled stars sometimes seek solace elsewhere. As it turned out, both Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse chose St Lucia to spend recovery time at the height of their troubled times. Houston and (then husband) Bobby Brown visited the island for the New Year celebrations of 2005 for some private time off; and Winehouse also repeatedly spent several weeks in recent years on what she several times described as her “adopted island”, the last just mere months before her death in London last year. But neither lived to return for their self-prescribed prescribed rest and relaxation in the tropical suns or the hot sand and blue waters of the Caribbean Sea.
When I started listening to Whitney singing “I Will Always Love You” last Saturday evening through my window, I could never have imagined learning she was dead before the song ended. But that’s a human frailty that can easily come with life in the fast lane on the highway to success, if one isn’t prepared always to confront the twists and turns and the precipitous fallouts that come all along the way, from beginning to end.
Whitney Houston will always be remembered because before her
last song, she’d already sung her way into the hearts and memories of millions everywhere.
And yes, we did not have her for Valentine’s Day yesterday, but like she did us, we will always love her!