标签： Barbados

A 56-year-old resident of St. Michael, Barbados, is facing criminal charges after an alleged altercation with the island nation’s top health official, according to local law enforcement. Michael Alphonsa Harris, who lives at Seales Avenue in the Goodland neighborhood of St. Michael, was taken into custody and formally charged by investigators from the Criminal Investigations Department based at Black Rock, the Barbados Police Service (TBPS) confirmed in an official statement.

The two counts brought against Harris include one charge of assault against Minister of Health Senator Lisa Cummins, and a second count of using threatening language against the cabinet member. The alleged incident that led to these charges took place on September 5, though TBPS has not released additional details about the context or circumstances of the encounter out of respect for the ongoing legal process.

Following his processing, Harris has been scheduled to make his first court appearance before the District ‘A’ Criminal Court this coming Monday, where the case will formally enter the judicial system. As of the latest police update, no additional information about bail conditions or potential witnesses has been released to the public.

A sudden telecommunications failure has brought all standard customs payment processing and general cargo clearance activities to a complete halt at Terminal II of Grantley Adams International Airport, according to an official announcement from Barbados’ Customs and Excise Department.

The department confirmed that the outage stems from service issues affecting their regional telecommunications provider, and as of the latest update, no definitive timeline has been given for when full connectivity will be restored.

To minimize disruptions for importers, exporters, and other stakeholders moving cargo through the airport, the agency has implemented an alternative workaround for all customs payments that would typically be handled at Terminal II. Customers are advised to complete their transactions in person at the main Customs House location, housed within the Leroy Trotman Building on University Row in St Michael.

Officials note that the Customs and Excise Department is maintaining constant surveillance of the outage situation, and a public announcement with updated information will be released immediately once service is fully restored. The temporary disruption is expected to cause minor delays for cargo processing at the airport terminal, and the department has apologized for any inconvenience caused by the unplanned outage.

Pioneering patient rights champion Shelley Weir, MBE, founder and president of the Hope Foundation, has passed away at the age of after a short illness, leaving a transformative 35-year legacy that reshaped chronic illness advocacy across Barbados and the entire Caribbean region. Weir died on Sunday, September 6, 2024, according to an official statement released by the Hope Foundation’s board of directors.

Weir’s entry into advocacy grew from deeply personal experience: after receiving her own lupus diagnosis in 1990, she turned her journey navigating the autoimmune disease into a lifelong mission to tear down barriers for other patients. Just one year after her diagnosis, in 1991, she launched the Hope Foundation, an organization initially focused on connecting people living with lupus, while educating both the general public and medical community about the often-misunderstood condition.

From its earliest days, the organization upended traditional healthcare discourse under Weir’s leadership. In 1992, only 12 months after its founding, the Hope Foundation made history as the first patient-led group to host an international medical conference – a milestone that established Weir’s core approach to advocacy: bridging gaps between patients and healthcare providers through open, collaborative education.

Weir quickly expanded her vision beyond lupus, broadening the foundation’s mandate to include people living with sickle cell disease and other chronic rheumatic conditions like arthritis. The organization was built around a radical, patient-centered principle that challenged the status quo: that people living with illness deserve to be informed, empowered, and active participants in shaping their own care, rather than passive recipients of medical decisions.

Throughout her career, Weir broke new ground for patient representation in formal healthcare spaces. She made history as the first non-clinical person to chair the Patient Care Committee of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Board, bringing the often-overlooked patient perspective to a table historically dominated solely by healthcare administrators and medical professionals. Her expertise in patient-centered advocacy also made her a trusted advisor to emerging patient organizations across the Caribbean, where she helped replicate the Hope Foundation’s community-led model and strengthen grassroots health movements across the region.

Beyond policy and representation, Weir built a portfolio of practical, community-focused programs to directly improve the daily lives of patients and their support networks. These include the Newly Diagnosed Lupus Patients Seminar, designed to help people newly living with the disease feel informed and supported from day one; the Sherene Hillock-Hinds Caring for the Carer Award, which celebrates the unrecognized, critical work of family and professional caregivers; and the Lupus Essentials Kit program, launched at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to help patients access critical resources and take control of their health amid public health disruptions. She also co-authored the clinical reference text *Lupus Essentials* with Dr. Cindy Flower, extending her commitment to educating medical professionals about patient-centered lupus care.

To strengthen the work of her organization and the broader non-profit sector, Weir invested deeply in her own professional development, earning a Master of Science degree in Non-Governmental Organisation Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She brought that formal expertise to the Hope Foundation, nurturing it into a stable, impactful organization over 35 years of growth. In 2009, her decades of outstanding service to the community were recognized with an appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).

For all her public accolades and professional milestones, the Hope Foundation statement emphasizes that Weir’s greatest legacy lies in the countless individual lives she transformed: the frightened newly diagnosed patient who found a community instead of isolation; the caregiver who finally received recognition for their unseen labor; the patient who learned to speak up for their own care needs; and the dozens of regional organizations that grew stronger under her mentorship. Weir spent 35 years upholding the simple, transformative belief that no patient should be silenced or sidelined in their own healthcare, and she worked tirelessly to create spaces where their voices could be heard.

“This loss is immeasurable for our entire Hope Foundation family,” the statement reads. “We have lost our founder, a relentless patient advocate, a fierce leader and loyal friend – a true force of nature.” The foundation extended its deepest condolences to Weir’s family and loved ones, as well as to the broad network of patients, caregivers, colleagues and advocates across Barbados, the Caribbean and beyond whose lives she touched. Rest peacefully, Shelley.

As students across the island nation geared up for their first day back in the classroom on Monday, a government-backed youth program rolled out a day of free support Sunday, providing complimentary hair services and critical school supplies to help young people start the new term with confidence.

Organized by the country’s Division of Youth Affairs, the Fresh Start initiative operated across 10 convenient locations spanning multiple parishes, from Cuthbert Moore Primary School in St George to the Queen’s Park Steel Shed in Bridgetown, from 10 a.m. through 4 p.m. Speaking at the St George venue, Senator Shane Archer, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office with oversight for Youth and Culture, emphasized that the program’s core mission is to remove barriers that can leave students feeling unprepared or self-conscious as they return to school.

While organizers acknowledged they were not able to host a site at every community center across every parish, they prioritized reaching vulnerable and underserved communities to deliver meaningful support. In total, the initiative distributed 100 pre-packed supply bags filled with essential classroom items including sharpeners, pencil cases, pencils, geometry sets, and scientific calculators. These extra supplies were made possible through community partnership: local MP Toni Moore of St George North spearheaded fundraising and coordination, and individual donors from both inside and outside the constituency contributed items and funding to expand the program’s reach.

Youth commissioners played a central hands-on role in every stage of planning, from coordinating supplies to recruiting local grooming professionals to donate their time. At the Bush Hall Community Centre, which serves the St Michael North East area, youth commissioner Kamal Downes explained that the program fills a critical gap for families navigating the financial strain of back-to-school season. “Back to school is tough sometimes, and I know this will ease parents,” Downes said, noting that recruiting local barbers and hair braiders from the surrounding community also gave local small business owners an opportunity to give back to their neighbors.

In Bridgetown, youth commissioner Faith Hinds selected the Queen’s Park Steel Shed as a host site specifically to meet the needs of the city’s large population of vulnerable children, who often lack access to the basic prep resources their peers take for granted. Drawing on her deep existing ties to the community from regular outreach work, Hinds recruited local stylists and barbers to volunteer their services for the day. By midday Sunday, approximately 20 children had already accessed free services at the Bridgetown site, with a steady stream of additional families arriving before the event wrapped up. Downes reported a similar turnout at the Bush Hall location, with around 20 children already served and more families continuing to check in as the day went on.

The 10 host sites across the island were: Bush Hall Community Centre, Boscobelle Community Centre, Delisle Bradshaw Community Centre, Queen’s Park Steel Shed, Cuthbert Moore Primary School, North Stars Cultural and Social Club, Chesterfield Brewster Youth Empowerment Centre, Hoyte’s Village House, St James Primary School, and Princess Margaret Secondary School.

For families struggling to cover back-to-school costs, Hinds encouraged caregivers to take advantage of free community support programs like Fresh Start whenever they are offered. “As the youth commissioner and an active leader in my community, I would say that parents who find it difficult to have the necessary access to initiatives like this, take advantage of it because the help is there,” she said.