Montague Commends Staff of St. Elizabeth Infirmary

State Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Local Government, Hon. Robert Montague, has praised the staff of the St. Elizabeth Infirmary for providing quality care for the sick and less fortunate persons housed at the facility.
“I am very pleased with the care that the matron and her staff have continued to offer here,” Mr. Montague said, during a tour of the infirmary located in Santa Cruz on Monday (June 22). He noted the cleanliness of the facility, which cares for some 64 residents.
He stated that the vegetable farm at the infirmary, which was started with input from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FOA) and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), is a model of self-help, which his office was promoting at the community level.
“The farm shows a sense of responsibility, a sense of helping themselves. It is the way forward in the reformed Local Government, where we are looking at infirmaries and the whole Parish Council system as points of profits, where they can cut costs and provide services that can help in meeting their expenses,” he pointed out.
For his part, His Worship the Mayor of Black River, Councillor Jeremy Palmer, stated that the infirmary was an example “of us fulfilling our mandate, which is to help those who cannot help themselves. Every time I visit here, I leave feeling that the resources that are allocated to the running of this facility are well spent, and first class care is given to the poor and helpless around us,” the Mayor said.
Mr. Montague, in the meantime, committed a computer to the infirmary and the completion of the perimeter fencing. The facility houses 64 residents and has 23 staff members.