Lynly was diagnosed with the mental illness more than 20 years ago after the tragic death of his girlfriend and Patrong, who is a pensioner, has had the responsibility of caring for her son all by herself. Lynly has been an outpatient of the St Ann’s Medical Hospital for many years.

Patrong previously had her son in a home because she believed he would be able to receive the proper care and attention that he required.

After some time, the owner and caregiver of the home told the woman she would no longer be able care for Lynly because the disability cheques she was collecting from Government for him were not enough and Patrong had to take her son home and care for him.

Lynly was a patient at the hospital up two weeks but, according to his mother, one morning she returned home from an errand and found her son liming on the corner of their street with some men known to him.

She said Lynly told her a hospital’s van dropped him off with discharge papers stating the need for the prescribed medication dogmatil. She later went to the hospital and asked a medical officer if she would be able to get the prescription so she would be able to get it at a clinic.

The doctor told her he could not give her one but instead gave her a day’s worth of tablets. Patrong said that without his medication, her son is very difficult to deal with.

Patrong is now asking for help in any way possible but, most importantly, she would like to be able to access his medication.

Ramadharsingh said yesterday the department contacted him and volunteered to assist affected families in times of disasters.

The decision to assist came in light of Thursday’s storm in Aripero and Rousillac where strong winds damaged the homes of 26 families leaving 110 people displaced.

Ramadharsingh congratulated members of the university for giving back to society and said, “I am grateful that the university, on which we spent so much money, can come back to these communities and give to the low-income areas.” Yesterday, Ramadharsingh, his mother Chanardaye Ramadharsingh, who is the councillor for the area, and representatives from the Disaster Management Unit distributed hampers to the affected families. They were accompanied by interns from Trinidad Generation Unlimited (TGU) of Vessigny Village, La Brea.

On Thursday the galvanised roofing on many houses were ripped away leaving residents distraught and seeking immediate assistance. Ramadharsingh said 75 per cent of the people were from Aripero.

He thanked TGU for providing hampers to those affected. TGU provided three to four hampers per family which consisted of pharmaceuticals and food items. He called on the authorities to make decisions with the “small man” in mind to prevent “double jeopardy” when disaster befalls them. He said such decisions should be made with integrity, accountability, and transparency so as to avoid questions being raised.

Single mother, Alana Mayers, 31, and her three-month-old baby, Annesha Francis, were severely affected. Their roof was blown off.

Mayers expressed thanks for the assistance provided by the corporation and businesses who helped in providing relief to affected residents .

“Right now, I am lost for words and I don’t know what would have happened if they did not assist us,” Mayers said.

She thanked members of the Unemployment Relief Programme for their rapid response at the time of the incident. She said within 20 minutes, officials from the corporation were on the scene making arrangements for accommodation and within 30 minutes of being notified, representatives from the Disaster Management Unit responded.

Carmona made the call at the opening of the first local parent skills training programme for children with disabilities, aimed at empowering parents and children, which got underway yesterday at the Mount Hope Women’s Hospital, Mount Hope.

The effort at parent skills training, he said, should be a regional thrust and endorsed his wife, Mrs Reema Carmona’s suggestion in May this year that Caricom leaders declare a Caribbean Decade for Disabled Persons 2018- 2028 following the UN Decade for Disabled Persons 1983-1992 and the African Decade for Disabled Persons 1999- 2009. In a overview on how the programme came about, Carmona said, it was due to advocacy on the part of Mrs Carmona and Dr Natalie Dick, Specialist Developmental Behavioural Paediatrician at the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA).

He commended them for their efforts along with Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister Dr Ayanna Webster-Roy, and Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Jacqueline Johnson who is herself a person with a disability and who ensured the project’s implementation.

The programme involves the training of 16 master trainers, several children and their families, and a few observers and researchers. The master trainers will in turn train parents.

Beleaguered captain Jason Holder was choking for words at the post-match conference as he called for “more belief.” As the plane landed in England for this three-Test series, Holder would have known that the last time West Indies won a Test match in England was in 2000 and the last time we won a Test series in England was in 1988.

Out of this squad of 15, only three players had played Test cricket in England.

To add insult to injury, the West Indian batsmen were facing a pink ball in this day/night encounter — the first ever Test match of this type in England.

The cluster of inexperienced West Indian batsmen had no answer to the high-class pace and swing bowling of England’s Stuart Broad and James Anderson with a combined Test tally of close to 900 Test wickets.

Our senior and experienced players, for one reason or the other, continue to sit on the sidelines.

No longer is there the thrill of victory but the constant agony of defeat — West Indies has lost its last six Test series.

I am appealing to Dave Cameron, the current president of the newly-formed Cricket West Indies, to speedily get back the senior and experienced players on board or else the slaughter of the lambs in the lion’s den, barring a miracle, would continue unabashedly.

REZA ABASALI El Socorro

Forget the holiday and house and flag-waving thing. Give them a million dollars each in Unit Trust units.

Just my opinion.

SALLY KENT Diego Martin

Nurse is likely to make his debut tomorrow when the TKR face St Kitts and Nevis Patriots at Warner Park in St Kitts.

Nurse comes in as a replacement for Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who has been recalled for Bangladesh’s Test series against Australia. “This gives another option in off-spinners. Ashley is very experienced, he has played this format on many occasions, he also played for the West Indies and we expect that with his experience, if selected tomorrow, he will bring another edge to our team,” said Borde.

The upcoming match is a battle of the two top teams in the standings, with TKR at the top on 12 points, with six games won out of seven matches played. The Patriots hold second place with nine points with four games won out of six matches, and have the opportunity to play on home ground on Wednesday.

Speaking on strategy, Borde admitted that the Patriots are a formidable team with the likes of Jamaican Chris Gayle and Barbados Carlos Brathwaite in their ranks.

“Being away from home, we’d assess the conditions that we currently have to play under. We’ve played here before since it’s the fifth edition of CPL, so a number of the players have been with us from day one.

Certainly, most of the players have played on that ground before and so there’s a specific way we’ll have to play and that will be determined by the coaching staff.” Borde expressed confidence in the team, citing the various options available in the fielding, bowling and batting lineup. “Uppermost with this team is that, we play as a team and not rely on one individual and that we play to our strengths and our strengths in this particular team is that we have various options that the captain can turn to.”

We keep sending our young people into battle under-prepared, under-funded and expect miracles from them. They give up their youth and earning capacity at the peak of their earning potential to represent the red, white and black, but it’s like giving them a penknife to go to war.

I have long suggested that we either have a sport lottery or use part of the NLCB Lotto to fund our athletes, as is done in other countries.

The funny thing is, sport is always there as a rally to raise us up and give us a reason to cheer (remember 2006 with the World Cup football team), but are we fair to our sportsmen and women or just bandwaggonists? So please, let’s treat our athletes right.

R PATINO via email

Newsday was told the medical report is the final part of the investigation. An earlier report stated that a nurse employed at the Port of Spain General Hospital was questioned by investigators of the Child Protection Unit over her alleged involvement in the beating of the twoyear- old. She maintained she did not hit the child and claimed the child fell and had complained about being constipated.

The toddler is still in a critical condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Centre in Mt Hope.

Last week the child complained about feeling unwell and her father took her to hospital where an examination revealed her colon had been ruptured as a result of blunt force trauma.

She underwent surgery but the injuries were so extensive the child was put on life support.

PC Smith, who works at the Police Administration Building, was driving a marked police car at about 3.15 pm yesterday when he received information that two men with guns were seen in the area. Smith saw the men in some bushes off the road. He confronted the men and an exchange of gunfire ensued.

He was shot in the upper left arm and called for backup as the men escaped. Police responded and took Smith to the Port of Spain General Hospital where he remains in a stable condition.

The murdered man was identified as Curtis “Birdman” Smith Jr, from Riverside Drive, La Puerta.

Reports are he was approached at about 9 am by three men who alighted from a car and opened fire on him.

Crime scene investigators collected at least 40 spent shells.

A child received a graze from a stray bullet while a man sustained a broken arm while running during the shooting. Eyewitnesses told police Smith was involved in an altercation with another man hours shortly before he was shot.

He was captured on a video kicking a man in his head and his side.

The video was shared on social media platforms.

Police say Smith was a suspect in a murder.

However, family members say he was not a criminal but a businessman and a father of four.

Family members were so beside themselves with grief when they Smith’s body that one relative charged past the caution tape crying out for him.

The relative was held back by police. Another man was arrested for assaulting a police officer while at the murder scene.

Relatives said gunmen were after Smith for a while.

They said people were jealous of him because he had gotten several contracts in the area.

Newsday was told he was heading to one of these job sites when he was killed.

In April, Smith was chased by gunmen who shot him in the shoulder at Pregnancy Lane, off La Puerta Avenue.

Police have not yet ascertained a motive behind his murder.

The murder toll now stands at 303 for the year.