For greater than 20 years, Jamaican entertainer and worldwide recording artiste, Orville “Shaggy” Burrell and his Shaggy Make a Distinction Basis have supported Jamaica’s Bustamante Hospital for Youngsters (BHC) program of ‘mending little hearts.’
Advisor Cardiothoracic Surgeon on the hospital, Dr. Sherard Little, mentioned the Basis’s involvement with the well being facility has served the establishment effectively, including that the affect has been “fairly important”.
Dr. Little identified that whereas the contributions over time might be quantified by way of cash spent or donated to the hospital, concert events held and items of kit supplied, “what you’ll be able to’t quantify is the variety of lives which have been touched”.
He contended that Shaggy’s dedication to the pediatric well being facility over time is unequalled.
Dr. Little knowledgeable that the Basis has staged six concert events and donated greater than US$2 million in addition to greater than 1,000 items of kit.
He famous that the group’s single largest spend is on tools associated to the hospital’s cardiac program.
“They had been the key donors within the buy of a cardiac catheterization laboratory, the price of which was in extra of US$1 million,” he indicated.
Dr. Little added that the Basis has additionally donated ventilators, displays, IV poles, furnishings, and syringe pumps.
The advisor surgeon says previous to the acquisition of the cardiac catheterization lab, sufferers who wanted this specialised investigation must go to the College Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) to get it executed within the Radiology Division.
This had a number of logistical challenges, together with shifting sufferers from the Bustamante Hospital to the UHWI and doing procedures of their radiology unit, which, on the time, was not effectively geared up to assist pediatric sufferers.
“So, it was very difficult for sufferers to get investigations executed, and there was no different hospital inside the public sector that had a cardiac cath lab,” Dr. Little identified.
“Bustamante is the primary hospital within the public sector to have a cardiac cath lab, which not solely permits youngsters to get this essential investigation executed, however, in some sufferers with cardiac issues, we are able to truly do procedures to appropriate the situation which they’ve,” he shared.
Shaggy’s title now synonymous with Bustamante Hospital
Shaggy has not solely aided financially but additionally helped to spice up the attention of the power, particularly abroad.
He mentioned that, in some methods, the title Shaggy has turn into synonymous with Bustamante Hospital, mentioning that this has inspired different donors and companions, domestically and internationally, to come back on board and make tangible donations to the establishment as effectively.
“Shaggy partnering with Bustamante has mushroomed or blossomed right into a larger consciousness of the hospital and its wants, and so we’re in a position to profit from this as effectively,” Dr. Little emphasised.
Sufferers on the hospital can even see the donations made by he artiste, as many of the tools has been labeled.
“Tangibly, the sufferers and the mother and father can see that, as effectively, they usually might say this can be a ventilator that was donated by Shaggy,” he added.
