From left: Eligio Woodley, Queen Beatrix Medical Centre facility manager Christina Woodley-Charles, Clive Hook, Ricardo Carty, Jerrel Bispham and St. Eustatius Healthcare Foundation Director Dr. Gerard Berkel after the ceremony.
ST. EUSTATIUS--St. Eustatius Healthcare Foundation (SEHF) held a special ceremony in honour of four healthcare workers who constructed the isolation room at Queen Beatrix Medical Centre (QBMC). SEHF manages the medical centre and the isolation room was constructed for coronavirus pandemic patients.
QBMC’s facility manager Christina Woodley-Charles thanked the men for the “amazing work” they did to assist the hospital in handling the coronavirus pandemic. Because of the virus the healthcare foundation had to convert one room at the medical centre into an isolation room. A special crane was brought in to assist in the project.
Woodley-Charles said the workers sacrificed their private time to make sure that the room was completed. She said the men had worked so hard at times that they even forgot to eat and staff members had provided food to them.
Besides the four men, Woodley-Charles also gave a special thanks to “Mr. Malone” who would now and then lend them a hand with the project in his free time.
“As a result of your actions the room is now completed. The room was even used by a few patients already,” Woodley-Charles said. If the need arises, the room can be utilised for extreme cases.
The four workers – Ricardo Carty, Clive Hook, Eligio Woodley and Jerrel Bispham – all received a special gift.
SEHF director Gerard Berkel said, “We are here to honour four individuals for their extraordinary work within the Healthcare Foundation.” The foundation has recently developed a policy to recognise staff members who go beyond their duty.
Berkel himself also came out during the evening hours a couple of times to lend a hand with the project, working on the crane and taking a couple of swings with a sledgehammer to break a wall.
He said that even though he considers himself to be physically fit, using that sledgehammer to break in that wall was hard work. “The work that these guys did on their days off, in the evening time and on the weekends, we appreciate that. You did this work not only for the foundation, you also did this for the community at large,” Berkel said.
Thanks to the new room, hospital staff can now isolate someone much better than before.
“I thank you for improving the quality of care on the island, for your selflessness, the time you put in on the project on your days off, in the evening hours, on the weekend when you could have been with your families. While most of us were home doing other things, you all were here trying to finish this special job.
“What we give you here today does not really cover the magnitude of appreciation. We hope that you accept this humble token from us to you so that you know that we appreciate what you did and that this has not gone unnoticed by all of us,” Berkel said.
