A call has gone out for Ward C12 of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which houses terminally ill and cancer patients to be renamed in honour of either, nurse, midwife and health care administrator Nita Barrow or Sister Violet Best.
This appeal has come from President at??Barbados??Association of Palliative Care, Deiann Sobers, as she addressed participants of the 2nd Annual Barbados Association of Palliative Care workshop on Wednesday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
"I do believe that consideration could be given to the names The Nita Barrow Palliative Care Unit or the Violet Best Palliative Care Unit. They believed in compassionate care and knew how to lay their hand under one’s chin, demonstrating the words, ???no need to feel alone’," she said.
Ms. Sobers observed that all of the necessary disciplines were in place in order to have a formal palliative care team within the hospital, including Psychiatry; Physiotherapy; Medical and Surgical teams; the Clergy and Social Workers, Laboratories, volunteers, and other support systems and requested that a multi-sectoral working group be formed to achieve this.?? She proffered the view that this could include representatives from agencies such as The Queen Elizabeth Hospital; The Heart and Stroke Foundation; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Social Care; Cancer Support Services; Barbados Cancer Society; Cave’s Medical and Rehab Centre; Public Health Nurse; HIV/AIDS Commission; the Barbados Association of Palliative Care; Diabetic Association and the Council for the Disabled.
She also saw the "urgent necessity" for the setting up of the Caribbean Association of Palliative Care and noted support from international organisations was in place for such.?? ????
The conference saw presentations from Consultant in Clinical Oncology and Palliative Medicine in Jamaica, Dr. Margaret Dingle Spence, who discussed Bridging the Gap; Physician (Palliative Care), Dr. Benoit Deschamps of McGill University; President of the Palliative Care Society of Trinidad and Tobago, Saty Seemungal; Chief Executive Officer of the QEH, Dr. Dexter James, who gave a local hospital perspective, among others.??