RJRGLEANER Group spearheads COVID field hospital at UHWI

Construction of a 60-bed field hospital on the grounds of The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in Papine, at a former staff parking lot adjacent to the accident and emergency ward, began on Friday, with a floor plan for as many as 27 tents. This is a response by the private sector to an emergency call from the hospital, which was spearheaded by Group CEO of the RJRGLEANER Group, Gary Allen, and his Chief Operating Officer Christopher Barnes.

Allen, who was on hand to watch workmen begin laying out the floor plans for the first 13 tents for which he had already received financial commitment, explained the concept.

“It is not building another hospital ... it is building another section which meets hospital standards, to connect to what is in place,” he told The Gleaner after getting a briefing from Lynden Williams, the UHWI's chief technical director of engineering and maintenance.

Allen received the call from the UHWI two weeks ago, and was able to reach out to his contacts who sourced 20 hard tents which are ideally suited for the purpose. Since then, he has been reaching out to the private sector for support in purchasing the tents.

When Allen received the call from Dr Carl Bruce, chief medical officer at the UHWI, who explained that, given the urgency of the situation, a permanent building would not be practical, given the cost and time it would take to construct, he went to work.

“So we want to see if we could get any donations and we have been talking to some people. The COO (Barnes) and myself got involved and we took a list and said 'let's talk about what is possible'. There are these hard wall tents which I think they have used at Cornwall (Regional Hospital) and we identified from Duane Marzouca. They actually have 20 of those tents in the island that they can assemble.”

The placement of the field hospital between the accident and emergency ward and the hallway in which the COVID patients are being accommodated is strategic, according to the hospital's CEO Kevin Allen.

“The COVID patients are right there and what we will do is to make sure the area is sterile. It's one way in and one way out and we sited it close to the emergency area. So, just in case any of our patients get into trouble, the emergency doctors, nurses, the entire team would be there to offer assistance. It will put some of our staff at a disadvantage in terms of parking, but we are looking at the greater good.

“We are trying out best to see how we can improve the physical infrastructure just to ensure that the patients' safety is paramount and also the staff that provide the care. Their safety is also paramount, so we sit down and we plan this thing properly and we want to execute it as efficiently as possible. We want to be efficient, we want to be quick and we are grateful for the assistance that Mr Allen and the private sector, corporate Jamaica, has given us at this time, and we are working assiduously with the team of private contractors to make it happen.”

Senior director of operations at the UHWI, Fitzgerald Mitchell, explained that the field hospital will be constructed using a modular concept, with room for up to 27 tents. Allen disclosed that the estimate for the 27 tents came in at little under $35 million, so there are still about 14 more tents to be sponsored.