WAKEFIELD, Trelawny—There was no dry eye among the Wakefield Primary and Infant School student body and staff on Wednesday morning, November 22, 2023. Tears flowed freely down the cheeks of grief-stricken teachers and students like a waterfall as they mourned the sudden passing of eight-year-old Grade Three student Alexia Drummond, who fell ill at the school after the lunch break on Tuesday.
The authorities said little Alexia died late Tuesday afternoon at Cornwall Regional Hospital, shortly after transferring from Falmouth Public General Hospital.
According to the Jamaica Observer, they visited the school on Wednesday, but Alexia’s parents, Patricia and Omar Drummond, who were present, were too grief-stricken to speak to the media. The authorities ushered them into a classroom where they were comforted by school community members and visiting guidance counselors.
Sheryl Chisholm, Alexia’s class teacher, shared that shortly after the resumption of classes following the lunch break, she was walking through the class while reviewing a lesson when she saw Alexia slumped on the floor, unresponsive.
“While in the class, I was going over a topic that I did before lunch. I realized that some of the students did not fully grasp the lesson [so] before I decided to move on, I decided, ‘Let me review what I did,’ so I went to the chalkboard — everyone was seated — and started reviewing.
“I don’t know if it’s God who sent me to walk to her side first, so when I reached up, I saw her on the ground. I said, ‘Alexia, why are you lying on the ground?’ I did not hear her respond, so I said, ‘Get up, Alexia,’ [and] she did not move, so I bent over where I saw her on the ground. Vomit was on the floor.
“So I grabbed her quickly and shouted for the other teacher, and he came, and we lifted her, and we went to the staff room. Other teachers came, and we rushed [her] to the Wakefield Medical Centre with a vice-principal and a caregiver, then to Falmouth Public General Hospital, [and] from Falmouth to Cornwall Regional Hospital. The guidance counselor went with them,” recounted Chisholm.
Chisholm said she could not sleep throughout Tuesday night and that the incident traumatized her young students.
“The students are crying, I cried. It is very tough. It’s the first time I have seen something like this. It’s hard, tough. They are sad, they are crying. It’s very tough,” said Chisholm.
Speaking during devotion on Wednesday, a devastated Michael James, the school’s principal, sought to comfort the students and the rest of the school population.
“We have lost one of our princesses, one of our prospective doctors,” he said, his voice cracking, face etched in grief.