BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOLLOWING Thursday’s (Apr. 15) workshop, where senior government personnel and community leaders met and crafted a disaster plan, the Federation is now better equipped to face the threat of hurricanes and other natural disasters.
The region’s top healthcare leaders, public safety authorities and disaster preparedness managers were in St. Kitts on that day for the 2010 Disaster Management Workshop series, funded by Tropical Shipping Ltd.
Representatives from the government, private sector, Police Force and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were among those at the Royal St. Kitts Hotel and Casino who examined the nation’s current level of disaster preparedness and made recommendations for its improvement.
The workshop, facilitated by Baptist Health South Florida (BHSF) and the Caribbean Central American Action, was developed to increase awareness of best practices in disaster management.
Before arriving in St. Kitts-Nevis, workshops were held in the Turks and Caicos, The Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda.
Organisers revealed that the morning session consisted of presentations on various disaster-related topics, including emergency preparedness, geological mapping of disasters and the Federation’s vulnerability to natural hazards.
Delegates were then split into groups to formulate a disaster management action plan aimed at enhancing the nation’s ability to effectively prepare for and respond to natural crises.
As the Federation’s lead emergency response institution, NEMA was tasked with the implementation and monitoring of the new strategy.
Kathleen Tuitt, BHSF’s Caribbean Marketing and Development, told SKNVibes that the workshop was just one of the ways in which her organisation had contributed to regional development over the years.
“Baptist Health has been involved in the Caribbean since 1993 when the Cayman Islands gave us the contract to provide offshore medical treatment to its citizens. We’ve since established relationships with the governments, private sectors, community groups and healthcare professionals in most of the islands.
“Our major role is to deliver those offshore medical services that cannot be accessed regionally. We’re a top US hospital, and the 12 000 patients we treat annually from Latin America and the Caribbean receive nothing less than world-class treatment.”
BHSF is a faith-based, non-profit healthcare organisation that offers a variety of medical services. Its many umbrella bodies include the Baptist Hospital of Miami, the Baptist Children’s Hospital and a Baptist Cardiac and Vascular Institute.
A press release issued by the organisation said it was “dedicated to addressing the medical needs of all international patients, including hospital admissions, outpatient testing and physician consultations, as well as personal needs such as travel and accommodation coordination”.
