Paediatric Orthotic Clinic Now at Negril Health Centre
By: , October 25, 2017The Key Point:
Photo: Claudia Gardner
Angela Mullings (left), looks on as her son, DeShaun Bigby, is being fitted with his braces by Orthotists Lance Weersma (second left) and Dawn McArthur Turner, at the Negril Paediatric Orthotic Clinic on October 11. The clinic, which is now based at the Negril Health Centre in Westmoreland, was recently relocated from its original base at the Sunshine Plaza in the resort town.The Facts
- The clinic, which was formerly located at Negril’s Sunshine Plaza, provides lower limb orthoses made in North America, which have been donated by families to assist children who are afflicted with deformed feet resulting from conditions such as spina bifida and cerebral palsy.
- One parent, Roger Wallace, a security officer of Westmoreland, told JIS News that he was extremely grateful for the assistance from the clinic, as the cost for securing braces and other disability equipment for his two-year-old son would have been a huge strain on his budget.
The Full Story
The Paediatric Orthotic Services Clinic in Negril has a new home on the premises of the Negril Health Centre, located at Nonpareil Road in Westmoreland.
Formerly a cottage for visiting clinicians, the new facility was opened on October 11, to host a free clinic, which is a project sponsored by RIU Resorts.
The clinic, which was formerly located at Negril’s Sunshine Plaza, provides lower limb orthoses made in North America, which have been donated by families to assist children who are afflicted with deformed feet resulting from conditions such as spina bifida and cerebral palsy.
The orthoses, which can range from US$1,600 to US$8,000 are retrofitted at the clinic’s work room and given to the patients free of cost. The clinic, which is serviced by specialists from Canada and the United States who volunteer their time, is held four times per year and has benefited more than 300 children.
According to Project Coordinator, Elaine Bradley, the leasing of the premises to the orthotics clinic by the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) was a dream come true.
“It’s a vast improvement to where we were. Now we have rooms where we can see two or three patients, depending on how many orthotists we have. In the other little place, we could only see them one at a time,” Mrs. Bradley told JIS News.
Regional Director of the WRHA, Dr. Ken Garfield Douglas, said that while the orthotics clinic is not a programme of the WRHA or the Ministry of Health, the authority, in the interest of the community, responded in the affirmative to the call of the organisation to be allowed to make use of the vacant cottage at the health centre.
“We are facilitating access to that service through the use of our facility. I have agreed to offer them the facility, so they can make the service accessible to the public,” Dr. Douglas explained.
“I thought that since we had the place vacant, and it was something that the public would benefit from, I gave the permission for them to use the facility,” he added.
One parent, Roger Wallace, a security officer of Westmoreland, told JIS News that he was extremely grateful for the assistance from the clinic, as the cost for securing braces and other disability equipment for his two-year-old son would have been a huge strain on his budget.
“Trust me, I am glad that they are here in the west and the hospitals are referring patients here. If they weren’t here, we would not have been able to get proper shoes for the baby, as we were told when we went elsewhere, that we would have to go overseas. Even at the last clinic, we returned the braces we had and were given new ones. My wife and I are very grateful,” he said.