Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre gets portable ultrasound machine

The Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre has received a portable ultrasound machine valued at $1.5 million.

The equipment and maintenance agreement are facilitated by the CHASE Fund, the Rotary Club of St Andrew North, and PROVEN Investment limited. The donation is expected to significantly enhance the efficiency with which patients with spinal cord injuries are diagnosed and assessed.

Dr Rory Dixon, chief medical officer at the centre, said that approximately 4,400 patients are treated at the facility annually, some with spinal cord injuries. “These machines prevent patients from having to go externally to hospitals, pay for transportation with two nurses to accompany them. The portable ultrasound machine improves the health of the kidneys of patients with spinal cord injury,” he said.

The Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre provides rehabilitative healthcare for patients with physically altering body function. It offers services such as physiotherapy, prosthetics, and orthodontic manufacturing, speech therapy, counselling and social support, and medical care.

Project manager of the CHASE Fund Latoya Aquart-Foster said that CHASE was pleased to partner with both the Rotary Club of St Andrew North and PROVEN to provide the much-needed equipment to the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre.

“It will improve services to patients, and that is the drive behind much of the Fund’s initiatives.” Under its health portfolio, the Fund supports the improvement of health facilities and the acquisition of vital equipment, among other initiatives.

Lori Chuck, past president of the Rotary Club of St Andrew North, explained that the club had supplied a portable suction machine and wheelchairs, with support from the C&WJ Co-operative Credit Union to the rehabilitation centre in 2019.

“We are happy to be able to return to Sir John Golding and do yet another meaningful project to the benefit of present and future patients,” she said.