The Friends of the Hospital have made another donation to the Health Authority of Anguilla. The contribution of US $1,000 is to be used for the Dialysis Unit, as concern mounts over the increasing number of diabetic patients receiving treatment for the chronic stage of the disease.
A cheque in the above amount was presented to the Manager of the Unit, Mrs. Lisa Thomson-Brooks, on Tuesday, May 22, by Ms. Audrey Brooks, President of the Friends of the Hospital. In presenting the cheque, Ms Brooks said the money was raised from the annual coffee morning held by them. She was grateful to her colleagues, including the Patron of the organisation, Mrs. Sarah Harrison, wife of the Governor, for their continued support. She took the opportunity to commend the Hospital’s personnel for their good work in patient care.
Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Health Authority, Ralph Hodge, expressed gratitude for any contribution from the public to its on-going medical work. He was disappointed that successive Governments of Anguilla appeared not to recognise their responsibilities for the island’s health services, and noted that the Dialysis Unit was an important facility for funding. He hoped that other donors “would come to the rescue of the health services.”
Mrs. Thomson-Brooks, who said the donation would be put to good use at the Dialysis Unit, explained that two previous contributions from the Friends of the Hospital were used to purchase two badly-needed dialysis chairs. She disclosed that there were now fourteen patients from Anguilla and one from Nevis receiving treatment. She regretted that some of them have had to be taken out of the workforce – in their productive years – for dialysis. She expressed a need for further donations which would be used to purchase television sets for patients to look at during the four or five hours when they are being treated.
Director of Health Services, Dr. Kennedy Simmonds, said the Dialysis Unit was an essential part of the treatment of persons whose lifestyles made them susceptible to kidney diseases. “We have diabetics and hypertensive persons who, if they do not improve their lifestyles – pay more attention to exercise, diet and health lifestyles in general – will find that the cost of taking care of the complications, which include kidney disease, will be astronomical,” he cautioned. “It will also be probably outside the realm of our ability to cope so it is a very serious problem.”
Dr. Simmonds added that the Health Authority was grateful to the Friends of the Hospital “for pitching in to help towards this very important cause.”
