WPP establishes new post in SVG

The World Pediatric Project (WPP) has established a new post locally to raise funds from St Vincent and the Grenadines and regionally to continue helping critically sick children here.

Simon Carey, former regional director of TUI Marine (Sunsail and The Moorings) in the lower Caribbean {{more}}is now WPP’s chief development officer. The World Pediatric Project links worldwide pediatric surgical, diagnostic and preventative resources to heal critically ill children in developing countries.

Carey says the World Pediatric Project has had a presence in St Vincent and the Grenadines for 13 years and is a major contributor to the development of the pediatric health sector here. In partnership with the Ministry of Health and Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH), WPP’s focus is caring for critically ill children in St Vincent and the Grenadines and other OECS countries.

WPP’s value of donated medical services to region since 2002 has been US$30 million. It has provided over 100 teams of pediatric surgical and diagnostic specialists working at MCMH, healing critically ill Vincentian children, as well as children from the region who are flown to St Vincent by WPP for specialized surgery and follow-up care. To date, over 1,000 surgeries have been completed at MCMH, along with 6,000 evaluations. An additional 250 children have been flown to WPP’s partner hospitals in the US for advanced surgical services, such as open heart surgery. These are life-saving and life-changing surgeries which, due to their high costs and lack of access, would not normally be available to the families of the children of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Carey says his mission involves an aggressive agenda to raise funds throughout the region to support and continue to grow WPP’s programme for healing children in St Vincent and the Grenadines and throughout the region.