One of the first things Eric Clarke did when he assumed his role as chairman of the Management Committee of the Savanna la Mar Public General Hospital was to get the Friends of the Sav la Mar Hospital incorporated as a charity. This simple act has changed the way in which we in the public health sector collaborate with charitable individuals and organisations.
Unwittingly, an experiment has unfolded over the last year and a half. Although still being fine tuned, there is now a model that can be used to foster greater participation from Jamaicans at home and abroad in developing the health sector.
THE BACKGROUND
The Savanna la Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland has suffered from being a Type B hospital in a region with a Type A Hospital – the Cornwall Regional Hospital. All hospitals handicapped by similar location challenges struggle with funding and staffing.
The Spanish Town Hospital and May Pen Hospital – the poor cousins of Kingston Public Hospital and Mandeville Regional Hospital, respectively – have struggled, while the larger hospitals gobble up scarce resources allocated to their respective regions.
Staff naturally gravitate to the well staffed and better supplied hospitals, perpetuating a terrible cycle that will never be broken without restructuring of the regional health authorities.
Such has been the situation at Sav la Mar Hospital for decades. The continued neglect and understaffing naturally had a negative impact on patient care and resulted in the stigma that so commonly gets attached to public hospitals. But how do you improve an institution when it continues to exist in such a flawed system?
Cue the Helping Hands.
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