Andrews Memorial opens new wing
published: Thursday | September 29, 2005

Governor-General, Sir Howard Cooke (left), officially declared the new wing (The Tai Wing) of the Andrews Memorial Hospital open, after a Dedicatory and Thanksgiving Service on Tuesday at the Andrews Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Andrew. At right is Dr. Patrick Allen, chairman of the Andrews Board and president of West Indies Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. - CONTRIBUTED

AFTER THREE years of fund-raising and kind donations, the Andrews Memorial Hospital in St. Andrew on Tuesday opened a new surgical and maternal wing, offering additional care to patients.

The Tai Wing, named after Aston and Novelette Tai, contributors and friends of the hospital, was built at a cost of more than $60 million. The three-floor wing boasts 15 surgical/medical beds, 12 maternity beds and doctors'/consultants' offices.

"One of the best things that this has done is that it has created more capacity. Before, we did not have enough beds ... We were turning away four or five people per week (who were hoping to have surgery)," said Patrick Rutherford, the hospital's administrator.

The hospital was also constructed courtesy of donations from the Seventh-day Adventist Church; the hospital's auxiliary staff; Earl Reid, a friend of the hospital; Bank of Nova Scotia and the National Commercial Bank.