Hanover’s illegal nursing homes to be regularised

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) will be seeking to end its protracted standoff with persons who are illegally operating nursing homes and rehabilitation centres in the parish.

According to deputy mayor of Lucea Andria Dehaney-Grant, the corporation will now be putting the framework in place to have the entities registered with the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Over recent months, the HMC, in collaboration with the Hanover Health Department (HHD), has been in a contentious situation with the operators despite having issued them with stop orders, work plans, and having initiated court proceedings. Following a decision taken by the Council two months ago, the corporation facilitated a seminar to assist in regularising the illegal operations to acceptable standards.

Operators of Chances Rehabilitation Centre, People’s Nursing Home, and Royal Home for the Elderly Male and Female, the facilities which were at the heart of the initial standoff with the HMC and HHD, participated in the consultation and training seminar at the HMC meeting on Tuesday. Representatives of the Walking by Faith Nursing Home were also invited but no one attended. Indications are that operations have ceased at the Home.

Kerryan Blagrove-Hamilton, from the Standards and Regulations Division of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, outlined the procedure to properly register nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities and the standards required in the operation of such facilities.

“It is a criminal offence to start operating a nursing home without it being duly registered through the Ministry of Health and Wellness,” Blagrove-Hamilton said. “All duly registered nursing homes are gazetted for public notice.”

Marcia Lewis-Grant, senior public health nurse in the HHD; Patrenia Clarke-Zone, a supervisor in the Public Health Department at the HHD; Khalilah Wright-Gray, representing the fire prevention unit at the Hanover division of the Jamaica Fire Brigade Hanover Division; and Grace Whittley, director of planning at the HMC, also participated in the consultation and training seminar.

Following the seminar, Ronaie Peters, operator of the People’s Nursing Home, told The Gleaner that every effort will now be made to comply with the requirements and regulations.

“I think this session was very informative, and for me, my main problem was that I was not aware of all the requirements. I will be doing everything necessary,” said Peters. “I am happy that I am still in the race. I think the seminar was worthwhile, and today I see all the people that I need to talk to and who can help me in the room right now, and I am going to make my way around to them.”

Natalie Reid, the operator of Chances Rehabilitation Centre, told The Gleaner that after being prosecuted and subsequently fined in court for operating a health facility without the required government licence, she is happy that she has now been given a clear path to regularising her operation.