News
March 08 2026
Left behind: Inside Bellevue’s ward for Jamaica’s forgotten patients
6
min read
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Quadisha Lee, patient care assistant, speaks wth Dempson.
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John Watson* leads a group in stretching exercises before lunch.
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Suzette Buchanan, CEO of the Bellevue Hospital.
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Psychiatric nursing aides Lorraine Grant and Hulian Gentles sanitise patients before lunch.
James Harvey*, 54, still moves as though he is standing behind a towering sound system. Sometimes he rocks from side to side, blurting intros to dancehall hits as if the speakers are still thumping behind him. Nearby, Keith Dempson*, 62, straightens his posture and slips into a different performance. “Attention please,” he announces in a crisp, practised tone – the voice of a man who once directed passengers through departure gates at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA).
