MONTEGO BAY, St James — They spent years working at Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), experiencing the highs and lows, and as they go off on retirement Richard Lawrence and Sharon McLean cannot help but wish they were going to be around to see the ongoing rehabilitation project completed.

They were among a batch of 33 individuals from 10 regions who were feted at a luncheon Thursday afternoon by the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA). Lawrence ended his 42 years at CRH in the role of senior security supervisor.

“It was my dream to see the hospital open while I was working,” he told reporters following the event. “But I know when the time comes, might be they will invite me to come and see what’s going on,” he added.

Reflecting on his career at CRH, Lawrence said with pride: “I was a senior supervisor for more than 25 years. I worked in the office where I deployed security officers, I write duty rosters and I was awarded more than five different times.”

The job, he said, gave him the means to support his family, and he is particularly proud of his children.

“I have a daughter who is lawyer, a daughter in Canada who works at a university, my son is doing IT, my other daughter, she just finished nursing school, and I have a daughter now in Minnesota at university studying to be a veterinarian,” Lawrence shared.

“All this came through the work at Cornwall Regional Hospital, so bless Cornwall Regional. It wasn’t actually my first love,” he said, revealing that he had actually wanted to join the police force.

“But I don’t have any regrets, even though we… might say we don’t achieve anything but I want to give God thanks for bringing me through this,” he added.

Now looking forward to retirement, Lawrence said he is grateful for the support he received over the years

“I want to give thanks unto my wife Paulette Lawrence for her dedicated service to me, helping me along the path; all my children, my daughter, and everybody,” he said.

His colleague McLean capped off her 40 years of service as a chief medical technologist. It is a particularly bittersweet end to her career as she still remembers the toll the mould-infested building had on her before efforts began to fix the problem. She said she would have loved to work at the overhauled facility.

“I was there suffering for a long time, I didn’t know what was happening to me; like really suffering. I couldn’t handle myself, dropping down. We had to stop working in there, [I] even ended up in A&E because of that,” she explained.

McLean said she is happy her colleagues who remain on the job will benefit.

“It is because adjustments would have been made and stuff like that but I am happy that people will not experience what we had experienced,” McLean added.

Reflecting on her career at CRH over the years with pride McLean said was one of two chief medical technologists in the laboratory.

“My motto is, ‘By our skills, we save lives’. I work in a laboratory and I indeed saw where I have saved lives. People have come back to say, doctors have come back to say, ‘Yes, thanks for whatever’,” she stated.

She said she will miss the patients most of all, even though her job didn’t really allow her to interact with them. However, she is looking forward to her retirement years.

“I feel that I have a lot of energy left, but time come, and I am going to channel my energy into other areas,” she said.

The graduate of College of Arts, Science, and Technology (CAST, now the University of Technology, Jamaica), shared how she entered the profession.

“I wanted to be in the health field, actually, but I didn’t know what area I wanted to be in. However, somebody came and did a careers talk and I heard about this field. I was excited and so I applied and went to CAST and here I am,” she said.

Lawrence, McLean and the day’s other honourees were presented with plaques and other items during the luncheon.

WRHA Manager for Leave and Benefits Administration Simone Douglas-Cluney praised the group for their years of dedication.

“It’s just a joyful moment, and we really appreciate their service and we thank them for their dedication and commitment that they’ve extended to us,” she said.

Retired medical technologist Sharon McLean proudly shows off her award.

Some of the Western Regional Health Authority retirees who were feted during Thursday’s event