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US-based J’cans donate COVID-19 equipment to CRH

Published:Wednesday | December 29, 2021 | 12:10 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
Floyd Patterson (right), Jamaican liaison for the Delaware, United States-based Building Stronger Communities Foundation, presents medical supplies and equipment to Serena Holder-Campbell, client services manager at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in
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Floyd Patterson (right), Jamaican liaison for the Delaware, United States-based Building Stronger Communities Foundation, presents medical supplies and equipment to Serena Holder-Campbell, client services manager at the Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in Montego Bay, St James, on Friday, November 26. Also pictured are (from left): Nadine Satchwell, CRH’s human resource manager; Cassandra Lawson-Laing, hospital administrator; and Shawnee Brown-Smith, hospital administrator.

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE UNITED States-based Building Stronger Communities Foundation (BSCF) has been proactive in its mandate to build stronger communities in Jamaica, with one of its most recent projects being the donation of equipment and COVID-19 protective gear to Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in St James.

In its latest endeavour, the BSCF held a brief handover ceremony recently at CRH, delivering much-needed items valued at J$485,000, to include pulse oximeters, hand sanitiser dispensers, disposable boots and shoes, disposable gowns and three-layer face masks.

Floyd Patterson, the BSCF’s Jamaican liaison, noted that the donation was timely.

“The BSCF looks forward to donating even more to the CRH to help with this effort to fight against COVID-19. We have lost close friends and relatives to this virus and we are willing to do whatever we can to help,” said Patterson. “The BSCF is dedicated to the cause and will continue do whatever is possible to continue to assist in any way necessary and we want to thank the CRH for accepting our donations.”

The donation was part of an initiative to provide much-needed medical gear to two selected hospitals in Jamaica, the other being St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital in St Ann.

A non-profit organisation which was formed in Delaware in March 2021, the BSCF’s membership includes Jamaicans currently residing overseas, and whose mission involves community uplifting under the motto ‘Together We Build Stronger’.

According to Patterson, the donation drive was created after some of the BSCF’s members got word about close friends who had died at the CRH due to COVID-19.

“This group was started because we were concerned with what was going on in Jamaica with the COVID situation and so we met and decided on what we could do as residents of the United States, to help the CRH to get any help that they needed,” Patterson explained.

“At least six people we knew died at the CRH because of COVID and it was when the third death hit that we decided we had to do something, because we heard about people sitting on chairs and fighting over oxygen. We were hearing this information from nurses and other persons on the inside who knew what was going on,” Patterson added.

Cassandra Lawson-Laing, an administrator at CRH, expressed gratitude for the items.

“The management and staff of the CRH wish to extend a profound thank you to the BSCF for donating such well-needed supplies. This donation will assist in patient care and we sincerely hope that this is just the beginning of great things, and we say thanks a million,” said Lawson-Laing.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com