Gilbert Elated with Upcoming Improvements to Mary Charles
Basseterre, St. Kitts, (SKNIS) — Medical Officer Dr. Vance Gilbert has stated that he is elated at the soon-to-be upgrades on the Mary Charles Hospital in Molineux which will make it into an integrated medical institution similar to the Pogson Medical Centre in Sandy Point.
Dr. Gilbert was mentioned by Prime Minister the Right Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas in his Out and About visit to the Mary Charles Hospital, as one of the doctors who work at the Mary Charles Hospital. As such, Dr. Gilbert, who was present at the Out and About, expressed pleasure at the upcoming advancements.
“Having worked for a number of years at the Pogson Medical Centre, I understand very well how important and how effective it is to have both services – community-based and institutional hospital-based services combined,” Dr. Gilbert emphasized. “It certainly provides a more integrated approach, it makes it more accessible for our patients and it just makes the whole operation run more smoothly. I am certainly elated at this news and I look forward to this coming on line.”
Dr. Gilbert, who continues to lend support to the Keys to Saddlers Medical District, noted that integrating the hospital and the health centre would ensure that referrals could be carried out immediately. He also mentioned that renovations were taking place at the Tabernacle Health Centre.
“Recently we were able to transfer the staff from the old location and put them in a temporary location while work is soon-to-be started on the new location for the new health centre,” Dr. Gilbert revealed. “The new health centre will be in close proximity to the where the old one was located. We are looking forward to that upgrade as it will be similar to what took place in Old Road.”
Special mention was made of older persons.
“Often times we see that our elderly are somewhat forgotten,” Dr. Gilbert noted. “Persons perhaps have gotten too busy or have not found the time to adequately take care of their older persons. And so going around the district I have recognized that we need to improve the care of our elderly. We need to amplify our social network, perhaps we need to get more homecare officers who will go around and take better care of our elderly.”
At the Prime Minister’s Out and About, Medical Officer Dr. Gilbert revealed that Mary Charles was scheduled to have a Ambulette stationed there.
“But we are looking forward in the not too distant future, we can have one of those mini-ambulances placed right here at Mary Charles to better serve our communities,” Dr. Gilbert stated. “With an integrated system we expect also to have the presence of full time medical emergency service and so that certainly will reduce the time in which persons are transported from the area of sickness to the hospital and so forth.”