HELP COMING FROM THE S.L.C.T REGARDING PAEDIATRIC CARDIAC & CEREBRAL PALSY CASES
A partnership between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), the Sandy Lane Charitable Trust and the World Paediatric Project, which facilitated orthopaedic surgeries for 89 Barbadian children over the last two years, is being expanded.
According to Trustee of the Sandy Lane Charitable Trust, Pippa Challis, the partnership is now exploring new initiatives, including paediatric cardiac cases and a paediatric cerebral palsy investigative clinic and mission to Barbados.
Since 2017, 103 orthopaedic surgeries have been completed in children under 18 years with scoliosis.
Through the process, the Sandy Lane Charitable Trust funds the mission to Barbados, providing flights, accommodation, supplies, shipping, the administration of waiting lists and the coordination of patients.
The World Paediatric Project, a humanitarian organization that volunteers medical services, provides a team of consultants, surgeons, nurses, technicians and other staff.
The QEH provides the operating theatres, the surgical team including anaesthetists, surgical nurses and technicians, and handles the after-care, including physiotherapy.
In the more severe cases where children need to travel overseas for treatment, the Trust provides medical and subsistence sponsorship for the children and their families.
At a press briefing hosted by the Trust, to provide an update on the partnership, Minister of Health and Wellness, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Bostic, expressed gratitude to the partnership, which, he said, had made an enormous difference in the lives of the children who have had surgeries to date.
“In the process, you have transformed lives and demonstrated the power of goodness in the world,” he stated.
The minister noted that the work, which philanthropies such as the Sandy Lane Trust was undertaking in education and health, contributed in a significant way to government’s goal to ensure equal access to services for the entire population.
He emphasised how a major focus of the ministry was the promotion of wellness and well-being across Barbados, and added: “Achieving this goal will require the engagement of all sectors, public, civil and private, and at all levels, including policy, organizational, community and individual.”
Minister Bostic told the representatives of the Sandy Lane Charitable Trust and the World Paediatric Project that their “acts of selflessness” demonstrated their commitment to the people of Barbados, and were highly valued by Government, and particularly the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
