NSF adopts Ginger Hill Health Centre
WESTERN BUREAU
DAVID WILSON, a senior citizen of Ginger Hill, St Elizabeth, is delighted that the National Supply Foundation (NSF) has adopted the Ginger Hill Health Centre in his community and invested $3 million towards upgrading the Type 3 facility.
“Tell you the truth, I am happy to hear that they are going to upgrade the clinic and make doctors start coming here. We need it bad, bad,” Wilson told The Gleaner. “You know how far it is to travel to Black River Hospital from here. Thank God for these people.
“Some people have to travel to Sav-la-Mar and even to Cornwall Regional Hospital to see the doctor when they get sick,” continued Wilson. “We are even more happy to see that the people who were born here are doing all this after so many years.”
Donovan Chen See, director of the NSF, said that the decision to partner with the Ministry of Health in relation to the Ginger Hill Health Centre was easy, given his family’s more than 100-year umbilical connection with the community, which is the birthplace of the company’s founder, Neville Chen See.
“It is the hope of the National Supply Foundation that with our involvement and investment into the Ginger Hill Health Centre, it will be upgraded to a Type 3 facility, where it can be served by a medical doctor and dentist,” said Chen See.
The Ginger Hill Health Centre is the latest clinic to be adopted by private-sector leaders both locally and internationally under the Ministry of Health & Wellness Adopt-A-Clinic programme.
Operating under the umbrella of the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA), the Ginger Hill Health Centre is currently served by five members of staff, who include a public-health nurse and a registered midwife, who provide healthcare services to the St Elizabeth district and sections of St James and Westmoreland.
Speaking at the adoption ceremony, Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton expressed gratitude to the NSF and the Chen See family for their decision to give back to Ginger Hill by supporting the health centre.
“National Supply Foundation’s adoption brings to 30 the number of facilities adopted to date, raising some J$90 million in the process,”Tufton said after signing the memorandum of understanding for the adoption of the health centre, which will be for three years in the first instance.
“We are pleased with the expressions of interest by persons in the diaspora and local companies in the Adopt-A-Clinic programme,” added Tufton.
The Ginger Hill Health Centre is a Type 1 health facility that was built in 1960. It is located in the north-western section of St Elizabeth, which allows it to serve persons in districts bordering Westmoreland and St James.