The Brenda Strafford Foundation has funded the construction of the Brenda Strafford Foundation Eye Cenre at the Dominica China Friendship Hospital (DCFH). The modern eyecare centre was funded by late Dr. Barry Strafford in honour of his wife, Dr. Brenda Strafford, who died in 1974.
The new eyecare centre is headed by Dr. Hazel Shillingford-Ricketts, an ophthalmologist, and commissioned by on May 12.
According to Shillingford-Ricketts, a number of Dominicans approached Dr. Barry in 1979 to help with the reconstruction of a medical facility in Dominica following the devastation of Hurricane David. And the late Minister of Health, Charles Maynard, in 1985 pleaded with Barry to set up an eyecare centre in the country after learning that his foundation operated such service in Haiti.
Shillingford-Ricketts said that Barry committed himself to the construction of an eyecare facility in Dominica in 2000. He facilitated the construction of healthcare facilities in Bagatelle, Trafalgar, Coulibistrie, and San Sauver. In 2017, he sent funds for the commencement of the eyecare centre, but he died in April 2016 without witnessing the opening of the centre at the DCFH.
More than EC one million dollars were committed to the construction of the centre and the purchase of high-tech equipment for eyecare services. The facility comprised a nursing station, six examination rooms, offices for ophthalmologists, and a facility for fundus photography, non-freeze visual fields, and laser treatments.
The eye centre has its own operating suite with potential for eye surgery to be performed six days a week instead of once a week. This also allows for visiting surgeons to perform eye surgery without having to disrupt the schedules of the other surgeons. Eyecare can also be provided to patients from other countries. There are now three ophthalmologists in the public sector instead of one.
Dr. Hazel Shillingford-Ricketts
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