Eric R. Johnson, M.D., Lakeside Memorial Hospital general surgeon, Assemblyman Charles A. Nesbitt, and Lakeside Health System recently coordinated an effort to send needed medical equipment to Grenada to help furnish a newly constructed 200-bed hospital facility. This donation was packed into four tractor trailers on November 3, and was sent off to Charleston, South Carolina, where it will be loaded on to container ships bound for St. George's Hospital in Grenada, West Indies. Items included 60 hospital beds donated from Lakeside Health System. "It is wonderful that these materials can be put to good use instead of gathering dust," said Robert W. Harris, CEO of Lakeside Health System. A local cardiologist, Dr. Theodore L. LePage, donated an echocardiogram machine which will be the first in Grenada. The Spencerport Lions Club also donated durable goods such as refurbished crutches and walkers. Nesbitt played an important role in arranging transportation of all these materials. The initial attempt to move the equipment using the Air National Guard was abandoned because of sheer volume. He then made contact in Washington, D.C. to use the Denton Amendment, which allows for humanitarian relief efforts to be assisted by the federal government. Johnson, along with a medical team, will visit Grenada for the fourth time in February 2001. His project will be responsible for bringing advanced laproscopic surgery to the impoverished area this year. |
