Letters to the Editor:

The current debate over the expansion of the Bermuda Hospital at the cost of losing a significant part of Bermuda's natural resources (the Botanical Gardens and the Arboretum) highlights the underlying problem of how society treats health. Bermudians suffer one of the highest rates of diabetes (13% of the population) and nearly one-third of the residents are medically obese. These conditions are partly responsible for the $422 million in health care costs island-wide expected this year. Poor diet and inadequate exercise are leading causes of these conditions. If more Bermudians were to take advantage of the gorgeous, healthy space afforded by places like the Gardens, we would need less hospital resources. To sacrifice a possible preventative treatment in order to treat disease will only lead to more disease.

Kathleen Frith
Assistant Director
Center for Health and the Global Environment
Harvard Medical School
Ms. Frith, a Bermudian, lives in Cambridge, Mass.

A plea to save the Gardens
September 20, 2006
This letter was sent to Philip Butterfield, chairman of the Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust and copied to The Royal Gazette.
Dear Sir,
I thank you very much indeed for your very informative letter of August 31st 2006, advising me and the rest of our colleagues, as to the proposed location for the new Acute Care Hospital for Bermuda. I have several reasons for objecting strongly to this Proposal. My first objection is to he obliteration of Bermuda's finest collection of horticulture located in the Garden for the Blind, sensory Garden, the Hibiscus border, the Butterfly Garden, the North Garden, the Cactus House, the Exotic House, the Palm Collection, the J.J. Outerbridge Building Collection and Show Building and finally, the collection of trees and shrubs in their variety and abundance for all to see and get ideas for their own homes.
This assault on this fine collection, in fact, is so serious, I have to believe that the Agricultural Dept. itself, Tom Sleeter and his good people, cannot have possibly agreed with this site, because it is in their hands that Bermuda's horticultural future rests. Their predecessors, who built the Agricultural Dept. to what it is today, always realised that our tourism, and now international business industries, greatly depend on the many, many years of research carried out by the Dept. of Agriculture to ensure the beauty of Bermuda's roadsides, parks, open spaces and finally, most important of all, our Bermuda gardens.
These gardens carefully worked on by us residents of Bermuda, the majority of us garden lovers, and whose hobby is fed from ideas gained from this display described above, that is about to be destroyed. The claim that the current hospital site can be used for replacing green space lost is just that - a patch of grass and nothing else. Destroyed will be over a hundred years to work and research by dedicated Bermudians, and friends from overseas, who have contributed so much to make sure Bermuda remains lush and green. This destruction of years of work will take over a hundred years to replace.
My second objection is in connection with the building itself, not being fully though out in these days when land space is so important. The new hospital could be designed still in an area of choice anywhere in the central parishes (but not where another contribution to Bermuda's future is to be destroyed) and build multi-storey, up to between five and seven stories, thus saving land for green space around the new structures. Hospital patients in a ward system that is multi-storey, with water views on all sides, is in itself a contribution to good patient care and therefore good health.
A young man recently produced his idea of a new hospital structure to be relocated on Dundonald Street that is very worthwhile looking at. He used highrise and while the newspaper story and photography could not tell all, there appeared to be green space and parkland around this new hospital concept. The public need to know how many sites were examined, where are the conceptual drawings and plans for each site, and finally, what was the overall objection to sites considered. I agree with the public view that the Arboretum and the Bermuda Botanical Gardens should remain sacred and available for the people of Bermuda.
My third objection is that the entire Botanical Gardens will become a total “hospital site” instead of a dedicated Botanical Gardens with the full freedom of public use. There is nowhere else in Bermuda where the calm of the Botanical Gardens as they are, can be recreated, and the argument that the old hospital site is a replacement contribution, is total nonsense. The present Botanical Gardens acreage as created over the many years, is extremely user friendly as a very large recreational area for all Bermudians, where they feel welcome, and they take advantage of that welcome with their picnics, games and general relaxation. The most important feature of all, is that this has become the centre for all agricultural, horticultural and artistic displays that brings great joy to the thousands of Bermudians that attend and express their pleasure and delight in what they see during those particulars days. These shows inspire thousands of children into hobbies, knowing they have somewhere to show their hobbies off.
My fourth objection has been that of the lack of communication with the public in general, before making the decision. This confirms to the public that this Government does not care at all about public opinion and general Bermuda welfare, when Senators and Ministers support the answer to the public outcry with “get used to it!” To assault a major Bermudian public amenity that has served Bermuda well for so long, is a dictatorial approach to solving a site problem in the laziest possible way, coupled with a “cannot be bothered attitude” to take the time to discuss publicly all the sites.
Now the leaders of this project are faced with a public outcry that could have been avoided if full public consultation naming all the sites, had taken place prior to the decision making process. This brings us to the current state of affairs of the Premier now announcing that the Government may revisit the site choice because of the public outcry - a delaying tactic to give the Government Ministers time to further justify their original decision.
Finally a visit to the entire property owned by the Bermuda Hospitals Board, beginning with the car parks and water catchment on the hill in the north, along Berry Hill Road and then own to Point Finger Road and from the west through the “Springfield” property (this may necessitate the purchase of some of this property back) all the way to the hospital eastern boundary bordering the Botanical Gardens, shows that there is already a huge site available for construction of the new hospital, in separate phases.
I urge all the directors and members of the Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust who have not visited the current properties in the possession of the Hospitals Board, described above, to do so, because they will find it easier to make their own conclusions. I urge you Sir, to make sure that all the directors and members in the Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust, really do support the destruction of the Botanical Gardens. We need this information before asking us to go out to raise funds for building a hospital on the wrong site.
J. CHRISTOPHER ASTWOOD OBE, JP
Sandys

Hospital alternatives
September 26, 2006
This was sent to the Bermuda Hospitals Board and copied to The Royal Gazette.
Dear Sir,
I submit the following for your consideration:
1) Properties owned by the Bermuda Hospitals Board which can provide the space required for building a new facility: The site could extend from Gladyn, through the old King Edward VII building, Springfield, Berry Hill Road, Queen Elizabeth II Nurses Residence and present parking lot as required. I suggest that comments about building on the existing site are misleading as this area is remote from the existing operational hospital.
2) The advantages of this location with a relatively long but narrow footprint are:
a) views from patient rooms westwards up Hamilton Harbour.
b) convenience to main arterial roads (East Broadway, Berry Hill road, Point finger Road and Trimingham Road to South Road and Harbour Road).
c) convenience to existing and established helping services on Point Finger Road. (Doctor's offices, PALS Dialysis Unit, Bermuda TB Cancer and Health Association, St. John's Ambulance, Charity House), and nearby on Berry Hill the Bermuda Red Cross and further doctor's offices.
d) potential for vehicle access including bus.
e) underground parking for staff, visitors and ambulatory patients from different levels.
f) existing newer building for eventual conversion to Government offices e.g. Works and Engineering, Accountant General, Department of Planning all of which do not need to be in the city centre, or as an eventual land bank for a future hospital.
g) eliminate the justified public outcry about despoiling the Botanical Gardens to the loss of the Agricultural Exhibition, valuable and irreplaceable flora, the Blind Garden, etc.
h) BELCO are currently reinforcing their service to the hospital complex and the main sewer line runs along Point Finger Road to which connections should be practical.
i) consideration to providing nurses residence and facilities on site.
3) Any use of in the Botanical Gardens would require access roads remote from the existing arteries noted in 2b above which would further despoil their use and enjoyment as well as unnecessary costs. I trust that these comments will assist you in developing a satisfactory resolution to your important decision.
C.H.B. CRISSON P.ENG.
City of Hamilton

KYC News, Inc., October 5, 2006
formerly Offshore Business News & Research, 123 S. E. 3rd Avenue,
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LETTER FROM BERMUDA: TREE SURGERY

Bermuda politics is inscrutable. Ten years ago, there was a political
outcry when former long-serving Premier Sir John Swan was behind a
plan to open a McDonald's fast food restaurant on the Island.
Opposition to this move came from all sections of the community. Such
ventures were, ordinarily, not permitted to operate here, since fast
food franchises, it was felt, would ruin Bermuda's charm. The
`scandal, no doubt contributed to the ruling United Bermuda Party
Government's loss at the next General Election.

That sounds very reasonable. What made it impossible to understand is
that we already had a McDonald's, and a big Kentucky Fried Chicken
outlet, too. It's not worth explaining, even if it could be explained.

Now comes an equally obtuse development that threatens to harm
government, this time the Progressive Labour Party that has ruled us
since 1998, when the legacy of the McDonald's fiasco helped cost the
United Bermuda Party its 40-year stranglehold on office.

The subject this time is a hospital. Yes, we already have one. In
fact, we have two. One is an all-purpose affair, with emergency wards,
intensive care and so on, and the other is what was once called a
mental institution.

The main hospital is called the King Edward VIII Memorial Hospital. It
was built in the mid-1960s. Despite the standard Bermudian delusion
that we have the best of everything in the world, the Hospital, as it
is known, is a competent cottage hospital, one that can treat the
day-to-day illnesses, and then refer patients in need of more
specialised care to larger institutions on the Eastern Seaboard of the US.

No one especially loves the Hospital, but it does the job. Most
Bermudians were born there, and most die there. It only tends to makes
news headlines when a misdiagnosis leads to complications or death,
which is relatively rare these days. The Hospital is probably a better
facility than a community our size has a right to expect. The fact
that we're 800 miles from the next hospital may have something to do
with that.

In August, to everyone's astonishment, it was announced out of the
blue that the Hospital building has only a few years left to live.
Although less than 50 years old, it will cease to work as a Hospital,
we were told, five or six years from now. No one has explained why.

Simultaneously, we were told that a new hospital would be built to
replace it, slap bang in the middle of the Botanical Gardens, one of
only two open spaces near the City of Hamilton. The Botanical Gardens
has a special place in our hearts. It is where families gather to meet
and barbeque. It contains a number of plants that now survive nowhere
else. It is the repository of most of the remaining cedar trees, the
national symbol that was all but killed off in the late 1940s when a
blight hit the trees. It is the site for our annual Agricultural
Exhibition, the most popular event on the Bermudian calendar. And it
is where John Lennon found inspiration for his final record in a plant
he saw there, called "Double Fantasy."

In the weeks before this announcement was made, the Bermuda Government
had launched its sustainable development initiative, aimed at
protecting what green space we have left. The construction of the new
hospital and its approach roads, waste disposal facilities and other
accompanying structures will destroy the Botanical Gardens forever,
and suck up 14 acres of what little undeveloped land remains in
Bermuda. Construction will make the Gardens unusable for years. Cement
trucks will make the South Shore approach to Hamilton and the west a
living nightmare.

Some of the community was appalled at this news. At a series of public
meetings held to placate the public, barely a single black person
attended, while the whites who did attend were irate beyond measure.
Black people have apparently waited so long for a black government
that they will not oppose it on any grounds.

In the debates, it emerged that the old hospital could not be rebuilt
onsite because to do so would cost more than Government would allow to
be spent. It had capped the proposed cost of the project at $500
million, the exact estimate for building the new hospital, whereas
rebuilding on the existing site would apparently cost $600 million.

The Minister of Health who made the initial announcement hinted that
she didn't think a new hospital was a necessary or a good idea, so she
was demoted and sent to run Education as a punishment. She wasn't
pleased. Her successor, discussing the new hospital, said the decision
to destroy the Botanical Gardens was "irreversible" and we should "get
over it".

When we didn't get over it, the Premier waded into the fray. First, he
made the single most inane statement ever uttered by a politician. He
said that the Gardens would be incorporated into the new hospital.
When you came round from surgery, he said, you might wake to find a
tree in the bed next to you, if the tree "needed sustaining".

Back on the planet earth, he said that the decision to wreck the
Gardens might be reversible, if public opinion demanded it. The new
Minister, a young woman of no experience whatsoever, has not told us
how she feels about being made the most public of liars. (The Premier
had previously ignored the demands of public opinion on Independence,
as expressed by a majority of the voters in a petition, when their
views differed from his.)

Per bed, the new hospital may end up being the most expensive medical
facility in the world. It will not be the best hospital in the world,
though, just an overbuilt local medical facility setting broken bones
and scratching its head over more complicated matters. Building it in
the Botanical Gardens will be the greatest single act of vandalism in
Bermuda's history, and drive a very large nail into the coffin of our
culture.

No explanation has been forthcoming as to why the old building is
suddenly no good, why the new one will cost so much, why is has to be
placed in one of the two green spaces left in the middle of the Island
(when any one of a dozen better sites exist in Hamilton), or why none
of the background to any of this can be made public.

The only logical reason for this act of apparent madness is that
someone, somewhere, expects to receive a massive kickback, a giant
bribe, to allow this to happen, as seems to be the way of the world
with the Government. No other explanation makes rational sense,
because no government could be as incompetent as this one seems to be.

Corruption in high places, once it gains a foothold, does not let up
until the entire fabric of society has been corrupted. As we watch a
hapless regime destroy our open spaces and our freedom, in order to
line its own pockets, our unofficial national anthem, "Bermuda is
Another World", has taken on a rueful tone.