The Pediatric Ward at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital is the recent beneficiary of a donation of medical supplies handed over by World Pediatric Project. The well-needed supplies were handed over in a brief ceremony at Maternity B, on Thursday, November 25, 2021, the temporary location for the Pediatric Ward. The items were received by Pediatric Neurologist Dr. Mishka Duncan-Adams and Departmental Manager Sr. Samuel. WPP Executive Director for Eastern Caribbean, Lauren McIntosh presented the items to the pediatric health team.
WPP will be offering psycho-social support to families in SVG, due to the far-reaching and continuous impact on our population’s mental state following the explosive eruption of the La Soufriere volcano. WPP is continuing with phase two of a psycho-social support drive they began earlier this year, aimed at helping persons to cope with some of the many challenges associated with the traumatic occurrence. As a result, WPP will host healthy lifestyle road trips under the theme: Positive Vibes! Positive Mind! Positive Life! On Saturday, December 4th at the Sandy Bay Government for communities on the Windward side of the island, and on Saturday, December 11th at the Troumaca Ontario Secondary School for communities in North Leeward. The healthy lifestyle road trip aims to equip persons, particularly parents, with the requisite tools to better cope with stress, parenting, and mental health-related issues.
Ms. McIntosh said the organization decided to branch off temporarily as they realized the importance of mental health and well-being in addition to self-care. She further stated that, “in addition to our focus on providing critical pediatric care to children, we take great pride in assisting our families in time of crises, opportunities afforded to us through strategic partnerships.”
WPP is able to extend the range of its scope to assist families in this way due to funding from Americares. Americares is an organization that provides disaster relief and medication to countries worldwide. Both Americares and WPP realized the need for their intervention following the volcano eruptions and were keen to join efforts on this particular initiative.