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Improved results as Golden Hope incorporates new approaches

Contact: John Emmanuel

Tuesday, January 14, 2003 - Patients at the island’s lone mental hospital – Golden Hope have begun benefiting from a host of new treatment approaches implemented over the past few months. Principal Nursing Officer attached to the Golden Hope Hospital - Patrick Lammie says the new treatment approaches have borne significant fruit, with a major reduction in the institution’s in-patient population being recorded over the past six-months.

According to Lammie, “the new approaches which in themselves are a combination of factors have yielded significant results. It encompasses a variety of treatment combinations, family and nursing involvement which have resulted in drastic reductions in the length of stay of patients from three to four weeks to one to two week at present and for that we are quite happy.” Lammie says the patient recovery effort at the Golden Hope Hospital has also been aided by major improvements in the physical infrastructure of the facility. According to Lammie, work is currently on going to improve the flooring at the male ward.

Officials of the institution say they are awaiting with much anticipation the construction of a new psychiatric hospital on the island. Government only last week, reiterated its intentions towards constructing the multi-million dollar facility, with financial assistance from the Chinese Government

Mr. Lammie says the new facility will go a long way in supporting new initiatives and approaches which in themselves have already begun bearing fruit. “A new physical plant will only bring wonders for patients and improve staff morale. All these things help in treatment. Critics my say that Golden Hope itself is a place that retards recovery and we the administrative staff have to agree to some extent. It’s a given that good a physical environment is very much required for improvement in health care and if you have an environment that is non-conducive to mental health obviously you might get sicker as people say,” he explained.

The Cuban Government suppoting the new psychiatric hospital project, by providing technical assistance.

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