Widow complains: I could not hold my husband one last time

Dave Jackson’s widow, Venita, insisted that something must be done to clean up the mess in which the Chaguaramas training facility has deteriorated, which caused her husband’s death at hospital.

She said her husband and other auxilliary firemen have been complaining for sometime about the rats, mosquitoes and other problems at the facility, but the authorities were ignoring their pleas. Mrs Jackson is now a widow with three children under the age of 13, who now do not have a father. She also complained about the security procedures at the hospital. When she attempted to see her husband just before he died, she was refused permission because she did not have the required security pass. If she was allowed to go in Mrs Jackson said, at least she would have been able to hold her husband in her arms for the last time. Her husband, Dave Jackson, 39, died at the Port of Spain General Hospital, one week after he was admitted suffering from leptospirosis — an infectious disease caused mainly by rats. It was also suspected that he died from dengue. The Jacksons live at Savannah Road, Diego Martin.