August 24, 2010…Kingston, Jamaica…Nigel Coke/IAD
An Adventist hospital in Jamaica recently became the first private hospital to open an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in that country.
Located in Kingston, Andrews Memorial Hospital, owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, officially opened its five-bed ICU on Aug. 13.
“We are very happy to offer this critical service in our drive to provide higher quality health care to patients,” said Dr. Patric Rutherford, President of AMH. “This will also allow us to care for patients who we would normally have to transfer to the Kingston Public Hospital or the University Hospital of West Indies.”
The five-room facility, each equipped with monitors and ventilators, will be fully operational as soon as the hospital finalizes its arrangements with the relevant doctors for the unit.
“We will start seeing patients in a few weeks,” Rutherford added. “Some of the trained nurses are already in place and the required doctors are already here in Jamaica, but we would just need to finalize the necessary arrangements.”
On Aug. 12, AMH signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Orlando-based Florida Hospital, which formalized their years of collaboration in areas such as education and training, research, technology and equipment.
Rutherford explained that “a key component of the MOU is the benefit of a discounted cost for patients from Florida Hospital who are in the care of AMH and need to be transferred there for further medical assistance.”
Future Plans
Construction is underway to increase the number of operating rooms from two to four by the end of the year.
Plans for future development include the construction of a chapel, the procurement of an MRI unit, the building of a state-of-the-art patient care tower that include rooms for a pediatric unit, psychiatric unit and more medical/surgical beds. Also, a three-story outpatient tower to house additional doctors’ offices and space for other services is being planned.
“These plans are in an effort to create the hospital of the future for Jamaica,” Rutherford added.
Andrews Memorial Hospital and Florida Hospital are faith-based health care institutions committed to extending Christ’s healing ministry.
Founded in 1944 by an international team of missionaries, Andrews Memorial Hospital treats more than 3,600 patients every year in its 61-bed facility.
