SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Constrained by old and insufficient equipment, Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital has received a significant boost from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which donated medical and laundry equipment valued at more than $20 million.

“I am elated, I am relieved, because we had aged equipment in our A&E [accident and emergency] department and we had an inadequate amount of life-saving machines,” stated administrator of the Savannah-la-Mar Public General Hospital, Tanesia Tomlinson.

“This donation has injected more life into our hospital and it has also given us a greater reach in diagnostic services and also with the quality of care and the comfort that our patients and staff experience. This donation has really assisted us in providing better comfort and better diagnostic testing for patients,” she told the Jamaica Observer after Wednesday’s donation.

Among the items received are vital signs monitors, cardiac monitors, hospital beds, stretchers, a cardiotocography machine for the maternity ward, and a commercial dryer valued at almost $7 million.

“All of this equipment would help us at the hospital to offer quality patient care, provide better patient outcomes, and also to offset our budgetary constraints. Because as a government we constantly budget; however, sometimes there are deficiencies in the allocations that we receive,” explained Tomlinson.

The hospital’s chief executive officer (CEO), Roan Grant, said the donations could not have come at a better time.

“We are extremely grateful for this partnership and look forward to a positive continued relationship with the Church of Latter-day Saints,” he said.

Welfare self-reliance manager of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Leroye Blake explained how the idea of making such a valuable donation to the hospital came about.

“One of our local leaders, President Dwight Smith, contacted the Welfare Self-Reliance Department and told us about the challenges that were here [Sav Hospital]. We came and visited Mrs Tomlinson, and she gave us her wishlist. From her wishlist, we were able to address whatever needs we could, within our budget,” explained Blake.

He added that the wishlist was broken down into “top needs” of which the church was able to fulfil approximately 60 per cent.

“We tried to spread it as far as we could. Especially for the stretchers and the bed, the patient monitors and the dryer, which we think was our big ticket — the one that we wanted to help most with,” stated Blake.

While the church has been providing approximately 15 years of philanthropy work with the hospital, Wednesday’s official handing over marks the fourth biggest donation in the partnership.

First counsellor in the mission presidency, Dwight Smith said the church constantly reaches out to the hospital.

“We literally ask them if there is anything that we can help with. Even if it’s not donations, but if it’s manpower for service. Whether we can help paint something or just come in with some other missionaries or help with service, we are constantly doing that with them,” stated Smith.

“We do things like painting, cleaning, cutting sidewalks, or anything. If they have anything that they’re working on and they need help, we help them for a couple of hours. We have other members who would donate their time to just help. There are times when maybe the hospital staff reach out to us and say, ‘Well, we’re having a situation if you can help in any way’,” added Smith.

The church recently made similar donations to Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston and May Pen Hospital in Clarendon. Smith said Black River Hospital, which was severely damaged by the passage of Hurricane Melissa last October, is now set to benefit from a similar donation. He said items will be handed over to the hospital as soon as repair works on the institution are completed.