Friends of Hope Institute to stage benefit NDTC Recital and Awards Ceremony tomorrow

Friends of the Hope Institute group will stage a National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) Benefit for the Hope Institute and honour two stalwarts in the field of Oncology, Dr Margaret Dingle Spence, who is retiring from the institution, and Professor Gillian Wharfe.

The event, which takes place tomorrow at the Little Theatre in Kingston, is seeking to raise funds to continue the work of the institution, in providing care as well as life-saving research. It starts at 8 p.m.

Dingle Spence served as the senior medical officer of the Hope Institute, Jamaica’s only dedicated oncology and palliative care unit for decades. She is also an associate lecturer in the Department of Medicine at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in Mona, St Andrew, and is currently the acting head of the Department of Radiotherapy at the Kingston Public Hospital. In 2005, she instigated and continues to teach an introductory course in palliative medicine for medical students at the university.

Dingle Spence is a founding member of the Jamaica Pain Collaborative, the Palliative Care Association of Jamaica, the Caribbean Palliative Care Association and the Jamaica Cancer Care and Research Institute (JACCRI).

Currently consultant haematologist/oncologist at UHWI, Professor Gillian Wharfe started the MBBS programme at the UHWI in 1977, upon arrival from her native Trinidad, and completed the programme in 1982 with Honours in Pharmacology, Pathology and Microbiology and Medicine. She completed the DM Haematology programme in 1988, and was appointed as a UWI temporary lecturer and UHWI consultant in 1989 and then lecturer in 1990. In 2002, she was appointed lecturer on indefinite tenure and 2006 senior lecturer. In 2021, she was appointed Professor.

Elizabeth Buchanan Hind, speaking on behalf of The Friends of Hope Institute group, said: “We are indeed proud to host such an event to both honour these two stalwarts of the medical fraternity who have unwaveringly given of themselves to this field of medicine and to raise funds for the vital work of the institute.”

Hope Institute opened its doors in March 1963. It started out as a 52-bed hospital and was managed by a consultative committee. The mission is to work together to achieve excellence in oncology and palliative care, at little or no charge to cancer patients. The institute functions as a hospice facilitating the furthering of cancer treatment, working in tandem with the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) and the UHWI.

The services include radiotherapy, chemotherapy, terminal care, respite care, symptom control and counselling. It is the leading institution of its kind, not only in Jamaica but the region as well.

Tickets may be purchased to support the cause at the box office at The Little Theatre (876-926-6129).