National Mental Wellness Centre to be commissioned on March 1, 2010
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Contact: Darnley Lebourne
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 – The new State-of-the-Art Saint Lucia National Mental Wellness Centre will be commissioned on Monday, March 1st, 2010 during an official ceremony to be held at the location of the new facility at Coubaril (off the Millennium Highway). The ceremony which begins at 10:00 am marks the commencement of operations of the new centre.
The programme for the ceremony to commission the centre will include consecration of the new facility, remarks by Prime Minister Hon. Stephenson King and Minister of Health Hon. Keith Mondesir, gift presentations to staff members and supporting agencies, greetings from representatives of Dalhousie University and Health Canada which have been assisting with staff training and remarks by a representative of clients of the centre. The feature address during the ceremony will be delivered by Dr. Gena Watson of the Pan American Health Organisation.
The new Saint Lucia National Mental Wellness Centre was completed by the Taiwanese Government at a cost of EC $13 Million. The centre was handed over to the Government of Saint Lucia by the Taiwanese Government on November 11th, 2009. Since then the Government through the Ministry of Health has been engaged in preparatory work, which included landscaping, commissioning of laundry facilities, cabinetry woks for kitchen facility, procurement of furniture and equipment, development of policies, procedures and protocols, human resource training and formulation of an operational structure which provides practical linkages to Government’s concept of Primary Health Care and Community Outreach.
The new Saint Lucia National Mental Wellness Centre features: - Eighty four (84) beds for psychiatric patients; - Twenty four (24) beds for neurological patients; - Diagnostic centre for X ray; - Auditorium; - Merged kitchen, laundry, medical records, library rooms; - Administrative services for the Neuro-Psychiatric Centre and the new General Hospital (currently under construction) within close proximity of the Nero-Psychiatric Centre.
During the ceremony the Minister of Health Hon. Keith Mondesir will hand over the keys to the new facility to Ms. Jennifer Joseph, Director of Mental Health Reform. The staff compliment for the Saint Lucia National Mental Wellness Centre. The staff compliment at the Saint Lucia National Mental Wellness Centre currently stands at eighty (80) persons. The staff outlay will increase to approximately 110 following recruitment of an additional twenty to thirty staff members in the coming weeks. |
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