Chances Rehab Centre to know fate September
Published:Saturday | July 23, 2022 | 12:07 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The operators of the Chances Rehabilitation Centre in Hanover will know if they have to close the facility come September 23, when a judgment is to be handed down in the case brought against them by the health authority.
The Gleaner has learnt that the facility’s operator, Natalie Reid, has pleaded guilty to the charge of carrying on a nursing home without a licence as stipulated under the Nursing Homes Act of 1932.
The Hanover Health Department had taken court action against the home after the operators reportedly failed to comply with closure notices issued by the agency from as far back as January 2021.
Reid, the founder and administrator at the facility, had told The Gleaner that she has been operating the facility for more than 15 years, at different locations, across St James and Hanover. She added that she was finding it difficult to meet the health ministry standards to get the necessary registration and certification.
“It just will never be passed because of how it’s built, the availability of bathrooms, no running water, and this and that. I can’t fix those things because it’s not my place,” she conceded.
The Hanover Health Department told The Gleaner that since the Chances Rehabilitation Centre was relocated to Hanover from St James in 2020, they had been working with her, giving guidance on what should be done to bring the facility up to required standards.
Not satisfied with the progress, it initiated court action in April this year.
The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, the Jamaica Fire Brigade’s Hanover Division, the inspector of poor and also Hanover Municipal Corporation personnel have all given the facility failing grades on inspection with respect to its layout, space available, number of persons utilising available space and its operations.
Hanover’s chief public health inspector, Patricia Hall-Patterson, has indicated that the Hanover Health Department is also monitoring two other nursing homes and trying to get them to uphold established standards.