Suzette Camille Buchanan, chief executive officer of the Bellevue Hospital in Kingston, cuts the ribbon on Monday, signalling the official opening of the family room at the institution. (From left) Major (Retired) Dr Susan Wright, regional technical director in the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA); Suzette Camille Buchanan, chief executive officer of the Bellevue Hospital in Kingston; Diana Thorburn, chairman of the Bellevue Hospital Board of Management; Ramone Baxter, manager of Jamaican national footballer Leon Bailey; and Roger Roberts, senior medical officer. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)
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The Bellevue Hospital in Kingston will honour national footballer Leon Bailey later this month by naming its newly opened family room at the institution after the Aston Villa star winger.
Bailey is among three sponsors of the family room which is worth roughly $3 million. Other sponsors include the Bounty Killer Foundation, and Suzette Thompson, has contributed to the cause in gratitude for how her relative, a patient there for 20 years, has been treated.
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Bailey was not physically present at the ribbon cutting and launch of the family room. However, just a few minutes before boarding a flight to Belgium where his English Premier League Club Aston Villa is scheduled to play the Belgian Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League today, he expressed gratitude to Bellevue, via a video call, for giving him the opportunity to offer kindness to a vulnerable group in his homeland.
“Hey guys, I just want to share a few words before my flight right now,” he said. “I am about to go to Belgium where I have a game. I just want to send my best wishes and I want to thank you all for being there today. It means a lot for me and my family and everybody else. I really love my country and I really like to be a part of this programme. I am really appreciative of this opportunity. I just want to say, I wish you all the best and I will try to do the best that I can and be an ambassador as best as I can. Thank you, guys.”
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Bailey’s manager, Ramone Baxter, who represented him at Monday’s function, shared that when the winger returns to Jamaica in roughly two weeks, he will make another donation of $500,000 to the hospital.
Baxter says $500,000 might not seem like much money, but he emphasised that every contribution counts.
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“When he comes to Jamaica in two weeks’ time, I am going to bring him down here and make him do the handover,” he said. “I know $500,000 is not a lot but it can do what it can do. Every little makes a muckle and as we go along, we will do it in stages. In the future we probably will be able to do far more than that. Once it is possible, we will always be contributing because it is for a good cause. Growing up in a poor community in Jamaica, we know the struggle and we know what it is like.
“A lot of people in the ghetto have talent. All they need is an opportunity and he got his opportunity and made use of it. It is really a big thing for him to always give back. We do the treats, we do sponsorships and it just means a lot to him to always give back to the country. This is going to be a continuous relationship with Bellevue. We have built a Leon Bailey Family Room so family can come and interact with their relatives who are patients here. Whenever Bellevue reaches out to us, whatever we can do, we’ll just do. It is a continuous sponsorship,” Baxter told the Jamaica Observer.
As a result of the donation, multiple air-conditioning units were installed inside the family room, with audio-visual equipment. It was fitted with numerous pieces of furniture that will make the patients comfortable as they meet with their visiting relatives. The audio-visual equipment will enable the relatives who are overseas to be able to connect with their relatives at Bellevue via video chat. Various artworks done by patients at the hospital were also installed, and jerseys with the name Leon Bailey were also framed and hung on the walls.
The room is expected to facilitate various kinds of meetings that will contribute to the well-being of the patients.
