Spanish Town Hospital Stages Week Of Activities To Mark 70th Anniversary

Spanish Town Hospital, the largest Type B public health facility in Jamaica, is celebrating 70 years of service to the parish of St. Catherine and staged a week of activities to mark the milestone.

The official week of celebrations began with a commemorative service at the Family of God Seventh-day Adventist Church in Spanish Town on June 18 –

the anniversary of the establishment of the institution. Speaking at a JIS Think Tank on Friday (June 24), Senior Medical Officer (SMO) at the hospital, Dr. Jacqueline Wright-James, said it was a great experience to be received by the congregation to celebrate the “amazing achievement and exciting milestone”. “We used the opportunity, as a group from the hospital, to seek divine guidance and to recommit, repledge and recharge for the journey ahead,” the SMO said.

The sermon was delivered by President of the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Professor Lincoln Edwards, who issued a charge to the staff.

The SMO said that the week of celebrations went beyond marking the history of the hospital as an iconic institution in St. Catherine to recognising the hard-working, dedicated, and committed team of healthcare heroes, both past and present.

These, she noted, include “nurses, doctors, allied healthcare workers, maintenance staff, security officers – all categories of staff, because human resources are critical to the mission of the hospital”. A

A special staff recognition ceremony was held during the week, and the team was also treated to a concert dubbed ‘Music in the Garden’ on Wednesday (June 22) with performances by Mr. G, Wickerman, the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Pop Band and others.

Dr. Wright-James noted that the last three years have possibly been the most tumultuous in the institution’s history because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The volume of care was significantly higher than what we are used to, but because we have a dedicated team at the hospital, who really put their shoulders to the wheel and were committed to the task, we are able to manage all of our patients,” she said.

The week of activities culminated on Friday (June 24), with a celebration for the hospital and the staff members who have birthdays between the months of April and June.

A small contingent from the leadership team of the health facility participated in a JIS Think Tank on the day and a newspaper supplement highlighting the achievements of the institution will be published in one of the daily newspapers on Sunday (June 26). Also coinciding with the anniversary was the official opening of the hospital’s Blood Collection Centre on World Blood Donor Day, which is observed globally on June 14. The centre was opened by State Minister in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Hon. Juliet Cuthbert Flynn, who, the SMO pointed out, was instrumental in getting the project off the ground. The centre is open to the public on Saturdays and provides a viable option for persons who work during the week and have a desire to give blood. The Spanish Town Hospital offers 21 services to residents of the second most populous parish, numbering approximately 520,000.

The secondary health facility sees roughly 90,000 patients per year, including inpatients and outpatients.