Latest update February 8th, 2025 5:32 AM
Latest News
- Soaring gold price entices Canadian company to renew permits in Guyana
- Terrence Campbell accuses Govt. of weaponizing Police Force after calls for accountability with oil revenues
- China slams US as Panama quits Belt and Road Initiative
- Guyana extradites fugitive to Canada
- AFC Leader Nigel Hughes welcomes any investigation into lands he acquired
FFTP to roll out ‘adopt a department’ initiative in public hospitals
A new initiative that will see measures being taken to improve sections of a number of public health facilities is currently in the making.
The initiative is being spearheaded by Food for the Poor Guyana Incorporated (FFTP). And according to
FFTP Field Officer, Compton Giddings
FFTP Field Officer, Mr. Compton Giddings, who has responsibility for ensuring the initiative is successfully implemented, a few health facilities have already been identified.
“What we intend to do is to identify a section of all of the (public) hospitals and adopt that section so that we can improve it,” related Giddings.
Already adopted by FFTP is the paediatrics department of the Linden Hospital Complex, Giddings informed.
“We are going to paint their walls and make it children-friendly. We will write numbers and the alphabet on the walls and we plan on making toys available to the children too,” said Giddings of the planned initiative.
But while the initiative is slated to first materialise in Linden, he disclosed that the organisation also has plans to adapt Ward E of the Georgetown Public Hospital. According to him, the ward is one that accommodates a number of cancer patients, some of whom are in need of items that can be provided by the organisation.
A department will also soon be adopted at the Diamond Regional Hospital and other public health hospitals.
“Whatever section we adopt we will keep looking at it and address all of its needs,” said Giddings, who related that Food for the Poor has over the years been working with a number of public health facilities to help meet a number of needs. However, sustained relationships with such facilities are affected when health personnel are relocated.
“Sometimes we develop close relationships with a particular doctor, through whom we give support to the health facility, but when that person is removed we have to start over from scratch in terms of giving our support. To start the new communication with a new doctor, sometimes it is very, very hard, and this is a challenge to us,” Giddings related.
According to him, Food for the Poor has been consistently reaching out to, not only health facilities, but other organisations and individuals as well.
Last week the organisation offered support to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure in the form of tables for draftsmen, four ordinary desks and 25 office chairs.
“Although I look mainly at medical needs of organisations and individuals, sometimes when I visit a location we get other requests from organisations or individuals to help address other needs, and if we can, we give the support,” Giddings related.
Giddings explained that the organisation is one that thrives on the support of international donors, although it procures some items independently.
Meanwhile, FFTP will also be looking to continue a wheelchair distribution initiative that it introduced for the first time last year.
The wheelchair initiative, which is spearheaded by FFTP Senior Manager, Jimeel Davis, is one that is done in collaboration with the Free Wheelchair Mission of the United States.
Founded in 2001 by Laurie and Don Schoendorfer, the Free Wheelchair Mission is an international faith-based non-profit humanitarian organisation dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations.
Last year, Davis said that initiative was intended to distribute 550 wheelchairs. While over the years FFTP catered to the wheelchair needs of persons with disabilities, its capacity did not allow it to meet all the requests made.
According to Giddings, “containers are due here, so we will start distribution again soon. We were in Berbice, Linden and we want to go to Essequibo now and start it there too. What we found is that we never knew we had so many people who are incapacitated and have uncontrolled movements and we also had to give them bed pans and pampers. So we find that we are very strained now, in terms of these distributions, but our donors have been good to us,” added Giddings.
Efforts to continue its various initiatives come even as preparations are being made to celebrate 25 years of operation in Guyana, according FFTP Public Relations Officer, Wayne Hamilton. According to him, FFTP will unveil its celebratory plans after Guyana’s celebration of its Golden Jubilee this month end.
“We don’t want our plans to clash with the nation’s celebration, so we are quietly doing our thing,” he noted. It is expected that the FFTP celebration will be done in a big way, not only in Georgetown, also in Berbice, Hamilton said.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Due diligence on investments must become a priority
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- In 1985, the Forbes Burnham government looking for economic salvation, entered into a memorandum... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
