MONTEGO BAY, St James — The Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) this week handed over two monitors and personal protective equipment (PPE), valued at some $3.5 million, to the Cornwall Regional Hospital here.
Speaking during the brief handing-over ceremony on the grounds of the hospital, president of MBCCI Janet Silvera disclosed that the $3.5 million funding to source the equipment came from a member of the Montego Bay business community, who has requested anonymiy.
“This [equipment] is to help the hospital to beef up what it already has. We know that with ventilators, it is important that you have monitors. So instead of buying ventilators, we decided to purchase monitors, in addition to PPEs. What we have given here are 12,000 gloves, 100 N95 masks, overshoes, along with gowns. So overall the project is $3.5million and this is how we are going to continue to give back to our constituents,” Silvera said.
Clinical coordinator at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, Dr Delroy Fray, in expressing appreciation, said equipment donated by the MBCCI are “absolutely critical”.
“In fact, what we are getting here are two patient monitors which makes life easier for us when we are monitoring our patients, especially if they are in an isolated area, because you can just read other data off the monitor. These are very useful supplies that we gladly receive, and we are grateful for it,” Dr Fray said.
The MBCCI president said the next project, dubbed ‘Love Thy Neighbour’, will be launched within a couple weeks and will target 1,000 people, who will be given care packages.
“… That’s also coming from members of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Our members have come forward and would love to do things that are going to make a difference in our city,” Silvera added.
“One of the things that we also want to do is a short video — about maybe one minute — where we use some popular faces to get people to be more aware. We find that Montegonians have not gotten the right understanding of what it means to stay three feet apart or to wear a mask. We find that too many people are seen on the roadside daily sitting right next to each other without any type of protective gear.”
She added that in a bid to get people to buy into the idea of wearing masks, the MBCCI will be promoting the use of PPE. “[Some] may not be able to afford masks, so we will partner with a number of people who make masks and try to get the business community to purchase those masks for those people who would like to wear them,” said Silvera.
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