Residents want Treadways Health Centre to reopen
Published:Wednesday | February 2, 2022 | 12:10 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
The closure of the Treadways Health Centre in St Catherine more than two years ago is causing fresh concerns for residents, who are now calling for a new health centre with upgraded healthcare services to be constructed in the same space.
Up to the time of the closure, the facility, constructed in 1975 to service 12 communities in the Treadways division, was only providing limited healthcare services, the main one being antenatal care.
MORE HEALTHCARE SERVICES NEEDED
According to the residents, nothing short of a new health centre delivering additional healthcare services, to include doctor and dental care, would suffice given the overcrowding situation at the Linstead Health Centre, where residents have been diverted since the closure.
“We want to see a new health centre in the same space providing doctor’s care and dentistry,” said Valmay Young, a resident who pointed out that when the health centre was operational, even though it was mainly caring for pregnant women, it was convenient to all residents.
“This is the time for the health centre to be opened here. It is extremely inconvenient for us, especially for the older folks, to go to Linstead with the overcrowding and the possibility of catching the virus.”
Young said that with an estimated 30,000 people living in the 12 communities in the Treadways division, efforts should be made to put in a facility that offers complete healthcare, with a pharmacy attached.
Junie Powell said she missed the health centre, and even though it was offering mainly antenatal care, it was convenient and put less financial burden on the expectant mothers.
“It costs $300 to go to Linstead and back from the nearest point, and then you have to spend all day because of the crowd, not to mention the fact that you can catch COVID. They need to bring back the clinic and offer more services,” she said.
The concern about the distance to Linstead for the elderly residents was also echoed by senior citizen Jennifer Thompson, who insisted that such a consideration should be front and centre in any plan to bring back the facility. She said the closure was due to a lack of maintenance that plunged the building into disrepair.
Councillor for the Treadways division Sydney Rose said he has been fighting for a new health centre since the closure of the existing one and has since renewed his appeal.
“I have identified lands in the same space and have got paperwork drawn up with the National Land Agency, who owns the land,” he said, noting that he was awaiting money which was promised to construct the facility.
Rose said he has personally committed $250,000 to the project in addition to commitments he has received from private interests.