Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 10, 2015 (SKNIS): Mothers-to-be in the villages from Trinity to Halfway Tree, who attend the Old Road Health Centre’s antenatal and postnatal clinics, will be awarded points that will entitle them to receive brand new baby products at the birth of their child.
This is made possible due to the establishment of the Nurse Hodge Children of the Caribbean Foundation which was initiated by the children of the late Nurse Ruth Hodge; Cherrie, Rosie and Tommy.
Nurse Hodge’s son, Tommy, explained that such a contribution had always been a vision of his mother, whose lifetime career had been nursing, and for a great part of it, she had been based in the Old Road Community.
“Knowing that St. Kitts is what we can consider to be a progressive country by all standards, I think it is quite fitting that such a programme is put in place to ensure that prenatal is something that is seen as very important and highlighted,” Mr. Hodge said, noting that the programme serves as an incentive for patients to come in and seek the prenatal care that they need.
Ruth Woodley, the District Nurse for the Old Road Health Centre, expressed gratitude and commended the family of the late Nurse Hodge for their timely initiative of “fostering the care of antenatals and postnatals of this area, from Trinity to Halfway Tree.” The late Nurse Hodge was described as having a deep passion for the maternal and child health programme, which includes the care of the pregnant woman, care after delivery, family planning and birth control and vaccination of children against vaccine-preventable diseases.
Rosie Hodge-Adams, the daughter of Nurse Hodge and founder, described the programme as an incentive to get expecting mothers out to antenatal clinic and also to postnatal clinic.
“We came up with the idea, of giving points every time a patient attends clinic,” Mrs. Hodge-Adams said. “So you are pregnant, you come to clinic, you’re awarded points. Now after you’ve had the baby, you can cash those points in for brand new products – cases of pampers, baby bottles, vasceline intensive care products like petroleum jelly, brand new babies clothes by Carter’s, themometres and several other products.”
Dr. Cherrie Hodge, before giving the vote of thanks recalled fond memories of spending summers walking through the Old Road Community and assisting the doctors. This made the donation even more personally significant.