It was December 2003 when Prime Minister Said Musa promised to build a new hospital in Belmopan to care for the mental patients at the Rockview Hospital. But nothing's happened, and the staff or the residents at mile 21 on the Western Highway have only gotten help through the ride across Belize campaign. And while that has gone some way towards making life better for the residents, this chronically neglected institution always needs more. That's where Belize Natural Energy stepped in this morning, contributing where Social Security left off. Here's the story.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
CEO in the Ministry of Health, deputy chairperson of the Social Security Board Elena Smith and Director of BNE Sheila McCaffrey were among those who toured the Rockview Hospital facilities this morning. The visit came as BNE through its partner organization the commission on urgent relief called CURE handed over beds and exercise equipment to the hospital.
Daniel Gutierrez, BNE
"The Social Security (Board) approached BNE and BNE decided that we're not going to give money, what we are going to do is we are going to bring BNE's network of partnerships that we have established to be able to give infrastructure and support. So what we BNE did is it leveraged this relationship with Project Cure out of Colorado to bring what is today in the area of about $700,000 worth of equipment, not only for the Rockview Hospital but for any number of different health facilities around the country."
The Rockview donation is significant - because when you haven't got much, every little bit counts. If we are to judge by the accommodations and infrastructure of the facility, the 49 patients who live with the absolutely bare minimum. Director of Analysis and Planning in the Ministry of Health Dr. Peter Allen says that it's the staff who requested this donation.
Daniel Gutierrez,
"This list came from the Ministry of Health, we worked with them very closely, we did not only procure this material and bring it down to Belize, it was working closely with the Ministry of Health personnel."
Dr. Peter Allen, Ministry of Health
"BNE asked the Ministry of Health to work with Rockview to ask the staff what do they want. So based on the requests of the staff, that was the request that was sent to Project Cure and that is essentially the equipment and supplies that were received. We made sure that the things that were coming in were in very good condition and it is essentially supplies to make the staff and the patients here as comfortable as possible and at least for the next twelve months, while the Ministry continues with its project to build a new mental health facility, assisted living houses, and the occupational therapy center in Belmopan, which I believe should be essentially complete by the end of this year.
We realize that no one person or agency can truly meet all the health needs of the country and that any kind of teamwork or complimentarily between organizations can only be to the benefit of our patients and to the health system on a whole and that is what we would like to try to promote."
The Rockville Hospital is not the only recipient of donations. There are other similar donations to be made to hospitals and health centers across the country all to the value of US$388,000.
