Mental Health patients to be temporarily relocated to Orange Hill

Close to 200 patients of the Mental Health Rehabilitation Centre would soon be relocated to temporary facilities at Orange Hill, while renovations to the buildings at Glen take place.{{more}}

Newly appointed Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Simone Keizer-Beache told SEARCHLIGHT that the patients are being moved to that community since there is a facility there that can accommodate the number of persons housed at the institution, commonly called the “Mental Home”.

“They thought of some other schools around the country, but because of the length of time (for renovations), you would be losing too much functional time from other buildings or schools,” Keizer-Beache said.

The renovations of the facility at Glen are expected to take up to 18 months to complete.

Keizer-Beache also indicated that although renovation works are also scheduled to be done at the Lewis Punett Home, also located in Glen, those residents would not necessarily be relocated.

Renovation work there, at the home for the indigent, is likely to be done after the work at the Mental Health centre is completed.

During the feature address at the opening ceremony for the Smart Hospital at Georgetown last Saturday, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves asked for the co-operation of members of the Orange Hill community.

He said that there was no need for persons to panic.

“Just remember this, that Glen and Fair Hall have been living with it for donkey years, and nothing untoward has happened. The Community College is right nearby, it’s just some absolutely ridiculous fears,” Gonsalves noted.

“Just like when you want to have a prison in an area, people say ‘me nah want no prison’, but the safest place is where the prison is, because we have a lot more security there, and if prisoners break out, they want to go far, they don’t want to stay near. So I want that to be borne in mind,” he added.(JJ)