The Emergency Medical Service at the Princess Alexandra Hospital now has a new and state-of the-art ambulance to carry out its work in Anguilla, thanks to the generosity of Adam Aron, owner of Cap Juluca Resort. The US$85,000 vehicle was officially commissioned on Friday, February 6.

Official commissioning of the new ambulance

Chief Executive Officer of the Health Authority of Anguilla (HAA), Darlene Baptiste, said the hotel had recognised “the significance of pre-hospital care and its critical management in any emergency.” She was grateful for the public/private partnership between the HAA and the hotel which provided an opportunity to provide optimum health-care services to the people of Anguilla. “It is a great honour for us and we feel strongly encouraged by your willingness to contribute to the Health Authority,” CEO added.

Chairman of the HAA, Dr. Franklin Lloyd, said the provision of the ambulance was another demonstration of the authority’s determination to continue to improve the quality and timeliness of health care. He called on the Emergency Medical Technicians to function at all times as dedicated professionals with efficiency, commitment and compassion, noting that although the ambulance was well equipped, it was for them to operate it at a high level to ensure quality service.

“The generosity demonstrated by the donors of this ambulance should serve as a reminder to all of us that we all have a stake in fostering the physical, moral and social well-being of over community,” he said. “It should also serve as a motivation for others to join the company of doers and contributors towards the advancement of health care.”

Dr. Lloyd pledged that the HAA would continue to strive to improve all the health services it offered to the public and invited the people of the island to be partners in that regard.
Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, thanked Cap Juluca on the behalf of the Ministry of Health, the Government and people of Anguilla for its generous donation and for being a good corporate citizen.

Official commissioning of the new ambulance

“These are challenging times but there are some essential things that must be done and health care is one of them,” he stated. “We have our challenges like any other Government world-wide but I can assure you that we will do whatever we can to continue to improve health care services in Anguilla.”

General Manager of Cap Juluca, Gary Thulander, said that one of the first major donations made by Mr. Aron after acquiring the resort was the donation of US$85,000 to purchase the ambulance. He hoped that the additional ambulance would provide access for the people of Anguilla and visitors to a faster response to emergencies and thereby improve the well-being of all persons concerned.

Director of Medical Services, Dr. Kennedy Simmonds, said the state-of-the-art ambulance coupled with the ongoing updating training of the Emergency Medical Technicians would help the HAA to deliver more effective and efficient first emergency response service to the people of Anguilla.

“This marvelous gift speaks volumes and it says two things to me: one, that there are organisations and individuals who genuinely care about the well-being of the people of Anguilla; and two, that there are persons in Anguilla who have a lot of goodwill towards the health-care workers of Anguilla,” he said. “I invite all of us in health to take courage in the face of adversity. We are uplifted by such goodwill.”

Dr. Simmonds set out a number of goals to which the HAA should aspire among them being: a clear vision of the kind of service it would provide and a strong commitment to health care with emphasis on preventive service and maintenance of good health; well-trained human resources and appropriate equipment to provide life-saying emergency care which the ambulance would help to address; continue to improve diagnostic capability by upgrading laboratory and radiological services; make the most effective use of human and material resources and involve the public in sharing its vision.

Following the blessing of the ambulance by Pastor Cecil Richardson of the Central Baptist Church, the ribbon to the back entrance of the decorated vehicle was cut by Mr. Thulander, Chief Minister Fleming and Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers.

The ceremony was chaired by the HAA’s Chief Operations Officer, Clavis Carter-Gumbs.

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News