MONTEGO BAY, St James - CHAIRMAN of the board for 'We Care for Cornwall Regional Hospital Foundation' Adam Stewart has announced that the one-year-old charitable organisation — primarily comprising St James business operators — has so far raised US$100,000 for the government-run health care facility.

However, the foundation has now set its sights on more than doubling that effort over the next 12 months.

"We raised US$100,000 since this time last year, and 100 per cent of it went into the hospital. We are trying this year to raise US$250,000," said Stewart, during a fundraiser held at the Montego Bay Yacht Club earlier this week.

In the meantime, Dr Tracy Gilbert, senior consultant in pediatric medicine, welcomed the generosity of the charity foundation which has so far focused most of its attention at the Paediatric Department of the hospital.

Among the list of benefits she highlighted were the acquisition of vital science monitors and pulse oximeters, which she said has served to compensate somewhat for the shortage of nurses on the paediatric Ward at the 34-year-old facility.

"If a nurse should turn their back attending to another child and something goes wrong with one of those other children, those monitors will go off in a second. Those monitors are critical because you know we don't have enough nurses for all the babies that are there. And these vital science monitors and the pulse oximeters pretty much are electronic nurses which help the nurses to do their jobs more efficiently," Dr Gilbert explained.