Donation of Life Saving Devices
The Turks and Caicos Collection, a group of local resorts, donated 17 ventilators to the Turks and Caicos Islands Government during an official handover ceremony held on Friday, May 15th 2020 at Blue Haven Resort in Providenciales.
The Minister of Health, Honorable Edwin Astwood expressed gratitude for the lifesaving machines, which are critical to the ongoing COVID-19 national response.
During his remarks, the Minister extended words of appreciation to the Chief Operating Officer of the Turks and Caicos Collection Luxury Resorts, Mr. Armando Pizzuti for the timely donation. He described it as an early Christmas gift to the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands
The Honorable Minister stated: “This gift warms my heart to see the private sector step up in such a way. Each one of these machines represents a life saving device if things go bad. It is like a fire truck - we have it and we pray we don’t have to use it. We pay the fire fighters every day even if we don’t have a fire because it is better to have it than not to have it. The same applies to these ventilators. We pray that we don’t need them, but in the event we do, we have them.”
The receipt of the 17 brand new ventilators further increases the critical care capacity within the Turks and Caicos Islands at the secondary health care level.
During the handover ceremony, Mr. Armando Pizzuti stated: “On March 5th or 6th, a decision was made to support any and every effort of the Turks and Caicos -what can we do? We received some information from doctors and it was said that ventilators are the way to go, so we pulled the trigger on that to assist the Turks and Caicos in this pandemic. Together, we can solve this. I would like to thank you Hon. Astwood and the Ministry for the incredible job that you have done”.
Caroline Van Scheltinga Chairman and CEO also issued extended appreciation to the Ministry of Health for the approach taken in the COVID-19 response. She stated: “We saw the horror story at the beginning of March. We saw the horror in Italy and we hope that these ventilators are part of capacity building. I admire the day Hon. Astwood you said in the house “I regret the day we let our laboratories go”. I know that you will never let them go again”.
She continued: “I am grateful to be standing here today healthy because of the actions taken even though they were hard we are better for it, I look forward to Turks and Caicos having the best health care system in the Caribbean.”
Following the handover ceremony at Blue Haven Resort, the ventilators were delivered to the Turks and Caicos Islands Hospital for a second handover.
Mrs. Florinda Talbot, TCI Government Director of Contract Management gave remarks on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Agriculture Sports and Human Services and the Honorable Minister of Health, Edwin Astwood.
Daniel Carriere, Chief Executive Officer at InterHealth Canada - TCI Hospital, and Dr Denise Braithwaite-Tennant, Chief of Medical Services at InterHealth Canada - TCI Hospital, received the ventilators on behalf of the secondary healthcare facility.
During the brief session, Mrs. Talbot stressed the importance of planned preventative maintenance and care of these medical devices to preserve its lifespan at the hospital.
Mr. Carriere also expressed appreciation for the generous donation. He stated: “These ventilators will save lives, and is a welcoming complement to the equipment and supplies we have already secured to fight this deadly disease. This is a good example of collaboration and partnership and we have to work together as a team to fight this disease, and we will beat it.”
ENDS
