The Push-Start Foundation, a charity registered in the United States but executes all its work in Jamaica, is collaborating with the Government to renovate and overhaul the Chapelton Community Hospital in Clarendon.

Work on the first phase, funded by the foundation, has been completed, noted founder and US-based Jamaican-American entrepreneur Beverly Nichols who disclosed that the charity has just revamped and relaunched its website, pushstartfoundation.com.

The website is used as a vehicle to highlight those who support health care in Jamaica, those who contribute in cash and kind, and as a public accountability mechanism for the charity.

Phase two of the hospital renovation project, funded by the Government, is to get under way within weeks; and Nichols wants reconstruction and furnishing of the facility, now closed, to be finished during next year as a special a gift to the people of Clarendon as Jamaica marks its 60th anniversary of Independence.

Asked why, after so much personal success as an entrepreneur in New York, she continues to spare so many thoughts for her homeland, Nichols said, “This is where I feel I belong; this is where I was born and bred.”

She hopes more people will join the effort to lift up Jamaica and give back.

“I love no place on planet earth like my country. So, for the love of my country I will move mountains.”

In the meantime, Member of Parliament (MP) for Clarendon North Central Robert Morgan noted that currently, residents once served by the Chapelton facility mainly use the Summerfield Community Centre that is now seeing about 2,500 patients monthly.

This is in comparison to approximately 3,000 patients who visited the Chapelton complex monthly, while it was in operation.

“Upon completion, the Chapelton Community Hospital is anticipated to bring great relief to the residents of North Central Clarendon,” said Morgan, who is the minister of state in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information. “With the wide array of health services to be offered across different specialities, it is anticipated that there will be a significant increase in the number of patients who visit the facility.”

For the director of the Southern Regional Health Authority, Michael Bent, the expansion of the community hospital is a welcome development for health care.

He noted that the facility, with its upgraded infrastructure and services, would improve the lives of residents from Chapleton and the adjoining communities, who now travel to other facilities to access basic diagnostic and specialist services.

“These services will now enhance the lives of residents, ease their travel burden and also provide job opportunities in the community,” said Bent.

“It will also reduce the waiting time for specialised care for patients with more complicated and advanced ailments and improve the productivity of these individuals.”