Emile De La Grenade, former chairman of the Employers' Consultative Association (ECA) and board member of Canning's Employees' Credit Union (CECU), has returned home from Germany after reportedly suffering a stroke on the eve of the national football team's return from the World Cup.
According to George Joseph, assistant manager of the national football team, German doctors confirmed that De La Grenade's left side had been paralysed and he was in need of a $300,000 air-ambulance to return. De La Grenade was hospitalised for just over a month before returning home last Thursday.
Joseph said that De La Grenade had returned on a regular passenger aircraft instead of the recommended air-ambulance. A source close to De La Grenade told Sunday Newsday that the air ambulance was costing too much and as a result the football enthusiast was forced to return home in the company of a German doctor.
Officials at the CECU did not divulge what financial means were used to get him back home. However, officials at the ECA indicated that letters had been sent to the agency requesting assistance for De La Grenade who also had to pay his own hospital bill.
An attempt to visit De La Grenade proved futile as Sunday Newsday was told that he was, "not seeing any visitors while recuperating."
De La Grenade is now getting some sensation on the left side of his body and can sit up on his own.
The CECU, in a letter to Sunday Newsday, revealed that De La Grenade is resting comfortably at the Community Hospital of Seventh Day Adventist' in Cocorite.