CAMBRIDGE, St James — Executive Director of Chance Rehabilitation Center Natalie Reid, whose operation in Hanover found itself in trouble with the law two years ago, said she has learnt her lesson.

Moving forward, she has vowed that nothing will be left to chance when it comes to making sure she follows the rules.

The facility, which is registered as a business, but is yet to receive a licence from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, was hauled before the Hanover Parish Court in 2022 for operating a nursing home without a licence. Approximately six months later, the court fined the home $150,000.

“We don’t take any more chances, and everything is above board. The processing, though, for the registration, is timely and it’s lengthy, and there are certain things that need to be involved,” Reid told the Jamaica Observer last Friday.

“It is a lengthy process, but we’re still in the process. We get monitored from time to time to make sure that we are acting above standards,” she added.

According to her, this involves educating them on the proper procedures.

“The Ministry of Health has come in and kept seminars for us and other homes in Hanover on proper practices and things like that in running a home, because they want us to be better. They’re guiding us and we’re still in communication with them,” explained Reid, who noted that her enterprise is currently in good standing.

Reid said some of the issues that have held up the licensing process are structural and have nothing to do with the level of care provided by her team.

“It’s not really our nursing or the cook. It’s the building. It needs a certain amount of bathrooms, a certain amount of entries and exits. Those are for the owner to put in,” she explained.

She said the owner of the property currently being used in Rejoin has given the green light for upgrades to be made.

“He is going to be flying in and is also partnering with us. We’re getting help from all angles in order to meet the correct standards. Now with him giving us the permission to go ahead and run the centre, everything is a go,” said Reid.

She told the Observer that her centre was established on the basis that there would be no fee to access health care. Residents would merely utilise the existing public health system.

“That was the premise that we opened under because we knew a lot of the persons who are disenfranchised couldn’t afford to buy the medication, let alone take somebody who’s mentally ill to the hospital on a monthly basis,” explained the executive director.

In November of 2020, when the Observer first reported on concerns about the home, it had three locations in Hanover. In addition to the Rejoin facility, there were two in the flood-prone community of Chigwell. Both have since been closed. She currently operates the centre from two locations: Unity Hall in St James and Rejoin in Hanover.

Both locations have a total of 35 clients and will be getting 30 hot meals twice per month from the Cambridge Boys and Girls Club Soup Kitchen in St James. The soup kitchen, opened last Friday, is sponsored by Friends of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Montego Bay in honour of bishop emeritus of Montego Bay, Rev Burchell McPherson.

“It’s a blessing, because it’s very expensive to feed somebody three meals a day on medication. Some of the clients are on serious medication that requires a lot of food,” stated a grateful Reid.

“Mr Oral Spence and Mr McPherson [both formerly of Food For the Poor] have been very lethal weapon in helping us, in terms of sustaining and giving us supplies, because some people just are not paying enough for us to sustain. With the benefit from Food For the Poor, Bishop McPherson, and other donors, we are able to be in the race, basically, be open,” she added.