Health Officials Push Forward with Expedited Renovations at Vieux Fort Wellness Centre to Restore Health

Government of Saint Lucia

Efforts are underway to ensure the swift reopening of the Vieux Fort Wellness Centre, a vital health facility serving the town of Vieux Fort and environs. Health services were temporarily suspended recently to address the compromised central air conditioning (AC) unit which resulted in the buildup of mold at the wellness centre. Officials at the Ministry of Health, Wellness, and Elderly Affairs are working diligently to complete the renovations, aiming to provide residents with improved access to quality healthcare in a safe and comfortable setting.

In an interview with Axel Philip, the Project Officer in the Corporate Planning Unit overseeing the rehabilitation work at the Vieux Fort Wellness Centre, an update on the progress and scope of the project was provided. “Since it’s a central unit we do not have split units in there which would have been those one ceiling units you would usually find at residential areas. You find that each room and we have a count of probably 14 rooms in here, who has those central units ducting coming through it. So you find that every one of those rooms, I think it’s up to 12 of them, those ceilings were compromised and we do have to replace all those gypsy and boards. Right now we are trying to replace them with PVC board to prevent the moisture from remaining in there and keeping it so we’re changing them with the PVC board so that we’d be able to get more and better quality in the ceiling.”

The Project Officer highlighted the recommendation made to replace the central air conditioning system with individual split units at the wellness centre. This change, he noted would enhance efficiency and ease of maintenance. “Right now they’re actually gutting out the central unit from the ceiling because we would not want to leave that central unit in there with all the ducting, because anything can happen. We would have things bringing in those same impurities, those same debris out into the open. So we need to just get everything out so that we can get a better air space inside there.”

Philip expressed sincere gratitude to neighboring health facilities, including St. Jude Hospital and the Laborie Wellness Centre, for their invaluable support in accommodating patients during the temporary closure of the Vieux Fort Wellness Centre. Their assistance, he noted, has been crucial in ensuring uninterrupted care for the town of Vieux Fort amid ongoing renovations. “For the space what we have done is since we’re doing this by phases, removing the ducting and ensuring it is done, also putting in the split units after we’ll be getting a company to actually come in to do some air scrubbing and a deep cleaning will be done in the facility before we can have anyone

come in to do any work. We also have Environmental Health Division coming in to do some testing to ensure that the air quality would be definite for us to resume working there.”

As the Ministry of Health, Wellness, and Elderly Affairs works around the clock to bring the Vieux Fort Wellness Centre back into operation, residents can look forward to an upgraded facility designed with patient comfort and quality care at its core.