Former midwife recalls home delivery during Hurricane Gilbert

In her nearly 40 years as a midwife, Elaine Robinson, 71, had her fair share of nerve-wracking moments, including the time she braved the rain and wind of Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 to deliver a child.

"One lady call me and a tell mi har house top did blow off and mi could hardly reach," she recalled, admitting that she probably should not have gone there. But the commitment to her job and concern for her patient saw her taking the trek to the house.

"I could hardly reach, but when mi reach deh she was having di baby and we find a little corner fi kotch har up and we wet," she shared.

Robinson was among the 21 honourees who were awarded on Heroes Day by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission in association with the Clarendon Municipal Corporation in a civic ceremony held on the grounds of the Clarendon Parish Courthouse in the capital May Pen.

Robinson gleefully recalled other adventures during her career as a community midwife in Moravia, Spaldings, where she lives. She started her career in 1974 and officially retired in 2011. With a smile, Robinson recalled another time when she was called for home delivery and the only mode of transport was a donkey which she could not get on. That meant using her most reliable means of transport, 'her foot mobile' as she head down to the riverside. She joked that somehow she was always called out for duties when it was raining.

Robinson expressed satisfaction with her long career which, even after she officially retired, saw her giving another three years service. Robinson said she has delivered more than 1,500 babies, some of whom grew up to become lawyers, doctors, police officers, farmers, teachers and other professions. Today, she said midwives have it far easier as there were days when the only light she had to guide her on her trek to the various homes was a 'kitchen bitch', a shadeless lamp with a handle that is fuelled by kerosene oil and a cloth wick. Despite the challenges, she said that she wouldn't have changed anything.

Throughout her career, there was just one sad memory for her and it came while delivering twins, as, through no fault of her own, only one of them survived.