Appliance Traders Ltd (ATL) continued marking its 50th anniversary with the donation of a new air conditioning unit to St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital by the group’s Ocho Rios branch last week.

“In celebration of our 50th anniversary at Appliance Traders and with the Ocho Rios branch being the second store of the entity, we thought it prudent to give back to the community, and St Ann’s Bay Hospital being an integral part of that community [and] serving such a wide and large area, we decided to donate a unit to the X-ray department,” ATL Ocho Rios’s Manager Robert “Bobby” Blake said.

Blake said the Ocho Rios branch of ATL was very happy to fulfil the need identified by the hospital. He explained that senior account executive at the branch Yanique Chambers, who works closely with the hospital and the North East Regional Health Authority, was instrumental in finalising the donation of the prism 12,000 BTU inverter AC unit.

Chief executive officer of the hospital Leo Garel was also happy for the donation. He said it was important to have all air conditioning units functioning at this time of the year.

“We are in the summer and it gets very warm in certain areas this time of the year, therefore we have to make sure our units are up and running. The unit that was in that particular room went down and the staff were complaining about the heat, so ATL stepped in and decided to assist us by giving us a brand new unit to use in that room,” Garel said.

He further explained that the room, which is located beside the recently installed X-ray unit, houses some very expensive equipment which need ideal conditions in order to ensure they function properly.

“Those equipment are used in conjunction with the X-ray unit, so you would really want to ensure that they are in the ideal condition,” Garel said, adding that both staff and patients will be more comfortable as a result of the donation.