QEH in need of support

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) stands in need of support, whether financial or via the donation of equipment or supplies, for its ambulance service, its Physiotherapy Department and in the area of its paediatric programming.

Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland, Executive Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) acknowledged the above, just recently.

“This is the hospital that all Barbadians and visitors have to come to at some point in time and that is why there is always so much interest in it. And so we recognise that there’s always a need for giving. When we receive donations, whether it is financial or in equipment, supplies or materials, what they do is reduce the amount of money that taxpayers have to find, in order to support the institution,” Bynoe-Sutherland explained.

“Taxpayers are funding us, either directly through the health levy or through the Consolidated Fund and we have benefited this financial year from a contribution or an offer of $30 million dollars in equipment, of which $18.8 million is in the process of arriving here at the facility and we will soon be putting out notification to you, on all of the equipment that has come in to date,” she added.

“(However), we continue to need equipment. We’re building out our cardiology services. Cardiology is an area that we recognise we have some challenge as a country, so we want to properly equip our ambulances with emergency equipment, that will allow our front-line personnel to be able to respond better, when they get into the community. That’s an area we are looking for support, our emergency ambulance service. We are also looking for support for our paediatric programming. We have a significant and substantive donation from SickKids, but part of this is a requirement to build out additional facilities for children. People often don’t realise that facilities that are built and designed for adults, often don’t work for children, just in terms of the setting and how they are situated. So we are looking for support for building a capital project around our paediatric programme,” she maintained.

Bynoe-Sutherland then noted the kind of support the QEH is looking for, for the ancillary areas of the hospital, such as the Physiotherapy Department.

“The Physiotherapy Department is one that services the polyclinic and there are so many referrals that are made to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for physiotherapy services and the amount of equipment that is needed by that Department, is beyond our current ability. So I am really putting a plug here for persons who are interested in contributing to our Physiotherapy Department, for the types of therapeutic equipment for patients who are doing exercises and various kinds of therapy, not just physical therapy, but audio, speech, all of the various therapy groups,” the Executive Chairman stated. (RSM)