Suzette Camille Buchanan, chief government officer of the Bellevue Hospital in Kingston, cuts the ribbon on Monday, signalling the official opening of the household room on the establishment. (From left) Main (Retired) Dr Susan Wright, regional technical director within the South East Regional Well being Authority (SERHA); Suzette Camille Buchanan, chief government officer of the Bellevue Hospital in Kingston; Diana Thorburn, chairman of the Bellevue Hospital Board of Administration; Ramone Baxter, supervisor of Jamaican nationwide footballer Leon Bailey; and Roger Roberts, senior medical officer. (Photograph: Garfield Robinson)
The Bellevue Hospital in Kingston will honour nationwide footballer Leon Bailey later this month by naming its newly opened household room on the establishment after the Aston Villa star winger.
Bailey is the primary sponsor of the household room which is value roughly $3 million. Different sponsors embody the Bounty Killer Basis, and Suzette Thompson, has contributed to the trigger in gratitude for a way her relative, a affected person there for 20 years, has been handled.
Bailey was not bodily current on the ribbon slicing and launch of the household room. Nevertheless, just some minutes earlier than boarding a flight to Belgium the place his English Premier League Membership Aston Villa is scheduled to play the Belgian Membership Brugge within the UEFA Champions League as we speak, he expressed gratitude to Bellevue, by way of a video name, for giving him the chance to supply kindness to a weak group in his homeland.
“Hey guys, I simply need to share a number of phrases earlier than my flight proper now,” he stated. “I’m about to go to Belgium the place I’ve a recreation. I simply need to ship my greatest needs and I need to thanks all for being there as we speak. It means so much for me and my household and all people else. I actually love my nation and I actually prefer to be part of this programme. I’m actually appreciative of this chance. I simply need to say, I want you all one of the best and I’ll attempt to do one of the best that I can and be an envoy as greatest as I can. Thanks, guys.”
Bailey’s supervisor, Ramone Baxter, who represented him at Monday’s operate, shared that when the winger returns to Jamaica in roughly two weeks, he’ll make one other donation of $500,000 to the hospital.
Baxter says $500, 000 may not seem to be a lot cash, however he emphasised that each contribution counts.
“When he involves Jamaica in two weeks’ time, I’m going to carry him down right here and make him do the handover,” he stated. “I do know $500,000 isn’t so much however it may possibly do what it may possibly do. Each little makes a muckle and as we go alongside, we are going to do it in phases. Sooner or later we in all probability will be capable to do excess of that. As soon as it’s attainable, we are going to all the time be contributing as a result of it’s for a very good trigger. Rising up in a poor group in Jamaica, we all know the battle and we all know what it’s like.
“Lots of people within the ghetto have expertise. All they want is a chance and he received his alternative and made use of it. It’s actually a giant factor for him to all the time give again. We do the treats, we do sponsorships and it simply means so much to him to all the time give again to the nation. That is going to be a steady relationship with Bellevue. We’ve constructed a Leon Bailey Household Room so household can come and work together with their relations who’re sufferers right here. Every time Bellevue reaches out to us, no matter we will do, we’ll simply do. It’s a steady sponsorship,” Baxter advised the Jamaica Observer.
On account of the donation, a number of air-conditioning models have been put in contained in the household room, with audio-visual tools. It was fitted with quite a few items of furnishings that can make the sufferers snug as they meet with their visiting relations. The audio-visual tools will allow the relations who’re abroad to have the ability to join with their relations at Bellevue by way of video chat. Varied artworks executed by sufferers on the hospital have been additionally put in, and jerseys with the title Leon Bailey have been additionally framed and held on the partitions.
The room is anticipated to facilitate numerous sorts of conferences that can contribute to the well-being of the sufferers.
