The staff of the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre (PRRC), were honoured for their service and dedication at the centre’s 50th anniversary Golden Jubilee Dinner and Awards presentation at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston.
Delivering the feature address, Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence, according to a release from the Department of Public Information (DPI), commended the PRRC board and staff for upholding the organisation’s vision and mission. She noted that the centre’s journey must not have been an easy one but they have made it work for them.
“I would like to congratulate all those of you who are present, and not present, that have participated over the last 50 years in helping PRRC to be in the position that it is. I know that it is not easy and it had to be love and the service that they give, to take it to the heights that it is today”, Minister Lawrence said. She added that the hard work being done, has cemented the ministry’s relationship and commitment towards the development of the facility.
Chairman of the PRRC, Col. Randy Storm, thanked the board for their continued support. He disclosed with their support and that of donors and dedication of their staff the organisation’s growth and development for 2017 has been significant.
The centre was established in January 1967, by the then Ministry of Health to provide rehabilitative services for those children who had suffered residual paralysis following the 1960 and 1964 Poliomyelitis epidemics. With control of this disease and the subsequent reduction of these types of cases, its focus evolved. The centre developed into an organisation providing comprehensive programmes in rehabilitation for children with various types of physical and other developmental disabilities.
In 1991, in an effort to improve resource acquisition so as to expand and provide quality service more effectively and efficiently, the centre was de-linked from the Ministry of Health and is now managed by a voluntary Management Committee. With the expansion of the Orthotic and Prosthetic Workshop from a small unit catering for the needs of only the children of the PPRC, the facility now has the potential to manufacture almost any appliance that may be required by those with physical disabilities.
