New facilities, in terms of wards, equipment and other furnishings, for the refurbished Princess Alexandra Hospital, will now be giving Anguilla’s premier health institution both a new look and a higher level of service. A new and extended ward at the hospital will even be named after Ms. Blondell Cluff, CBE, the Anguilla Government’s UK/EU Representative in London, who personally raised the funds for that section.
The Anguillian newspaper gleaned the above, and other information, in an interview with the well-respected and recently-appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Health Authority of Anguilla, Mrs. Maeza Demis-Adams.
As part of the improvements, process, patients have been moved from the galvanize roof section of the hospital to the new all concrete section where work had been going on for some months. This will allow for the replacement of the old galvanize roof with a concrete structure – an upgrade following Hurricane Irma in September 2017. “By mid-November, all of the wards will be operational and we are planning to have a grand reopening at that time,” the CEO told the newspaper.
Mrs. Demis-Adams went on: “We have upgraded the bathrooms and there we have touch-less faucets. These will help in two ways: preserve water and control infection. We have also tried our best to ensure that bathrooms are attached to most of the rooms so that patients are not inconvenienced by having to walk across the hall to a bathroom. We have installed a nursing call bell system; painted rooms and made them more conducive to our service. We painted the flooring and are still doing a lot of other work – and are proud that we are near the finish line. By November the public will have access to a much-improved facility.
“We are upgrading the current wards and have also built maternity rooms. The maternity wing was built from funding from Mrs. Blondell Cluff. That ward will be named in her honour during our November reopening, and she will be in Anguilla for that occasion. We have also extended the nursery area to include more rooms. The new ward will accommodate male and female patients, pediatrics, maternity and neo-natal intensive care. There are about six new rooms in total – not including the bathrooms. If you were to go to the back of the hospital you will see some additions there as well. We are also adding three bathrooms where the male ward was. We are adding bathrooms to private rooms in the middle. Two of the four rooms had adjoining bathrooms and now we are adding accompanying bathrooms.”
“How much money is all of this costing?”
“Millions of dollars and still counting,” she replied.“I am so proud that we placed orders for new beds and new equipment for the wards – and a number of other things that would enhance the way in which we provide service for the people of Anguilla. All of these supplies will be in Anguilla by November. We have placed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of orders, and this was done through the UK Government’s grant.”
A matter worth mentioning, although it has already been indicated, is that when all the refurbishing work is done at the hospital, the roof across the full expanse of the building will be of a concrete structure. This is generally preferable given the destruction to the galvanize roofing by Hurricane Irma – and the consequent flooding of the hospital’s rooms and offices with torrents of water.
