Basseterre, St. Kitts (September 9, 2016) —
The Joseph Nathaniel France General Hospital, the Pogson Hospital, and eleven health centres have benefitted from proceeds of this years annual Windsor University/Joseph N. France General Hospital concert that was held in June at the St. Kitts Marriott.
According to Dr Cameron Wilkinson, the Acting Chief Medical Officer who is also the Surgeon and Medical Chief of Staff of the Joseph N. France General Hospital, the concert raised over $50,000. He also added that through the instrumentality of the Minister of Health, the Hon Eugene Hamilton, a generous donor Mr Patrick Liotard-Vogt of ASmallWorld Foundation had donated US$50,000.
“With these funds we were able to source 25 EKG cardiac monitors, and four cardiac defibrillators,” said Dr Wilkinson on Friday September 9 at a function held at the JNF General Hospital to receive the equipment from the donors.
“This would not have been possible without our major sponsors. Their financial contributions were invaluable to our efforts.”
The donors were the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank, the Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis (DBSKN), Flow, Windsor University, Ross University of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Vibes and Amory Enterprises.
The Development Bank of St. Kitts and Nevis was represented at the handing over ceremony by Marketing Officer, Ms Vernitha Maynard, who had on Friday July 1 handed over the Bank’s contribution of EC$5,000 towards the Windsor University/Joseph N. France General Hospital concert to Dr Cameron Wilkinson at the Bank’s premises in Basseterre.
Dr Wilkinson also thanked those who contributed in kind, among them Mr Adrian Ram who loaned them his sound system, Loftus Lighting, Windsor Students who took the time out of their busy schedule to make a sacrifice for the betterment of the country’s health care institutions, and the St. Kitts Marriott who provided them the room where the concert was held.
“Today, every bed in the recovery room now has its own cardiac monitor so that all of our post-op patients can be effectively monitored,” said the Acting Chief Medical Officer. The function was also attended by Health Minister, the Hon Eugene Hamilton, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Mrs Ionie Liburd-Willett, and advisor in the Ministry of Health Mrs Eugenia Condor.
“Today the emergency room (ER), the intensive care unit (ICU), the private and maternity wards will be fitted with more cardiac monitors to better manage their patients. Today, each of our eleven health centres will have a cardiac monitor.
“Today we have four new cardiac defibrillators so that if your heart stops, or you get excited about the good news, and you have an abnormal rhythm, Dr (Bichara) Sahely can shock you back into proper rhythm. These will be placed in the emergency room, the operation theatre, between the medical and surgical wards, and one will be sent to the Pogson Hospital.”
Dr Wilkinson said that the Windsor University/Joseph N. France General Hospital concert is a yearly event and hoped that the event will grow bigger and better each year. He advised that in their first year they had raised about $12,000.00, second year $20,000.00 and in third year $40,000.00 while this year it crossed the $50,000.00 mark in terms of net return.
“I also want to say a big thank you to our nursing staff because these are persons who placed their orders for the tickets months in advance, and they supported us whole heartedly,” said Dr Wilkinson. “I also want to say thank you to doctors who came on board this year Dr Joylette Woodley, Dr Daryl Warner, and Dr Bichara Sahely, and we want to encourage a greater participation from more doctors.”