Rosalind Penn Health Centre reopens in East End/Long Look community
Following the reopening of the Rosalind Penn Health Centre in East End/Long Look, residents are being urged to utilise the health services available in their communities.
Health Minister Carvin Malone made that call while stating that the health centre’s reopening is part of the BVI Health Services Authority’s movement to expand their services throughout the territory.
“At this clinic, we will continue to deliver preventative, antenatal, post-natal and child wellness care, family planning, immunisations, chronic medical and acute ambulatory care. We will continue to strive to meet the health needs of the community,” Minister Malone said during the re-opening ceremony recently.
Following the 2017 hurricanes, the now-repaired building was badly damaged. This resulted in an abrupt halt to its services to the community.
The minister said he is now pleased these services have resumed on the eastern end of Tortola.
“This demonstrates our commitment to delivering care to the community by meeting their needs at their doorsteps, very much like Ms Rosalind Penn and many others in her time and before her,” the minister added.
East End health centres to operate consecutively
The health centre’s reopening means residents in the area now have access to two clinics — the Rosalind Penn Health Centre and Iris Penn Smith Health Centre.
However, both clinics will be operating on different days of the week. The Iris Penn Smith Health Centre will be opened on Mondays and Tuesdays while the Rosalind Penn Health Centre will be operating on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Both facilities will operate from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm and will also be providing an on-call service for after-hours emergencies.
Editor’s note:
The health centres’ emergency line can be reached at 284-440-1631.
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
Great news! Progress is alive and well.
Great news indeed. It’s good that this health center is back up and running again to serve the community.
I don’t know if folks are aware of who this clinic is named after, but it’s worth a minute to recall who the wonderful woman this clinic was named after. Bear with me.
Long before we had trained doctors and nurses in the BVI, we had people like Ms. Rosalind Penn who served our medical needs.
The late Rosalind Penn was a stalwart in the East End Long Long community for many decades. To my knowledge, she had no formal training as an OBGyn, but she served faithfully as a midwife in that community for many years birthing many of yesterdays’s generation.
She was one of two women who birthed many children in that community, the other being the Late Rosa Penn of Greenland, Long Look. I am not sure if they were related by blood having shared the last name, but it would not surprise me if they were. Many children of the 50s and 60s were brought into this world by these great women.
I would venture to say that the majority of children birthed in the East End/Long Look community during that time period were brought into this world with their assistance.
Not only was Mrs Rosalind Penn a midwife, she was also what we called back in those those days a “setter”. Today, we have evolved to masseuses.
If your mother thought you had something out of place about your body, it was up to Ms. Penn she would take you to get a good rub down with lard and a strong hand to get everything back in order.
These women served their communities well. I consider them sheroes of yesterday. May they continue to rest on peacefully, and may their legacies of good work done in those communities always be remembered.
This was a good time to put on another floor on to both clinics starting with the one in Long Look. The community is expanding and the additional floor should have been done!!!