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Geri-Care Gift Box donates nebulisers to paediatric ward at Sav-la-Mar Hospital

Published:Friday | February 17, 2023 | 12:05 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
University of Technology student, Geri-Ann Miller (left), hands over a donation of three nebulisers to Director of Nursing Services at the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital, Hazeline Forrester (centre), and nurse, Sophia Thomas, at the hospital on Feb
University of Technology student, Geri-Ann Miller (left), hands over a donation of three nebulisers to Director of Nursing Services at the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital, Hazeline Forrester (centre), and nurse, Sophia Thomas, at the hospital on February 11.

WESTERN BUREAU:

WITH RESPIRATORY challenges running high among children, a good Samaritan in Geri-Ann Miller, through her Geri-Care Gift Box charity, donated much-needed nebulisers to the paediatric ward at the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital.

The donation of three nebulisers was made on February 11 to the hospital administrators, who graciously accepted them to better aid their patients’ recovery.

Miller, a second-year chemical engineering student at the University of Technology (UTech), is the founder of Geri-Care Gift Box charity. She said her latest project came from donations, proceeds from an internal pageant at UTech, personal savings, and from her parents.

Prior to giving the hospital the life-saving equipment, she shared that she has been donating to the state-owned medical facility, much to the benefit of children on the paediatric ward during the Christmas holidays since 2011.

Inspired by those who have paid it forward, Miller told The Gleaner that she started the foundation as a result of her own desire to care for children in need, especially having experienced first hand how a gift can inspire hope and cheer among children.

“I just wanted to share Christmas joy with the children on the paediatric ward since most of them would not be able to be with their family for the holiday,” she said of her 13-year-old Gift Box charity, which she started while a student at the Loving Care Academy.

Miller revealed that her desire to donate the equipment stemmed from the impact the COVID-19 pandemic was having on people’s lives, to the point that some persons died because they were not able to get the oxygen required to keep them alive.

“I saw that it was a good cause and decided that nebulisers would be an appropriate gift for these children, based on the increased number of them presenting with respiratory illnesses,” Miller told The Gleaner.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has actually brought about extra inspiration, where everything in terms of thinking about helping people to live and breathe comfortably is concerned,” she said.

Miller further shared that outside of her inspiration from the impact of the pandemic, her experience working with Samaritan’s Purse charity, whose founder, Franklin Graham, leapt to the cause of children by ensuring that some 28,000 shoe boxes were filled with toys and toiletries, and sent to the children of war-torn Bosnia during the Christmas season in 1993.

“I was associated with this charity while living in England for a short time and I decided to bring this idea to life in 2011 when I returned home,” she said. “As a young child, I found it fun and interesting to assemble my shoe gift box to contribute to a charitable cause. It filled me with joy knowing that my small contribution would bring a smile to another child’s face.”

Hazeline Forrester, director of nursing services at the 59-year-old hospital, thanked Miller, her family and charity, noting that the much-valued life-saving gifts will help to provide quality care, especially to the increasing number of children now having respiratory illnesses.

Amid all that is happening in the country, Forrester was delighted to know that there are persons still out there who are willing to give so that others can live.

“It’s a needed gift, and with us having so many children coming down with respiratory issues, a nebuliser will always be needed and so we just want to express our gratitude to the Miller family for making it Sav. They could have done it elsewhere,” Forrester said.

“It is going to do us good with the increase in the respiratory illness we are experiencing, (because) sometimes we are short where patients will have to wait to be nebulised. But this will help in giving quality care,” she said.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com