Greetings: Senior Medical Officer St. Ann's Bay Regional Hospital
October 17, 2011, made 46 years since the conceptualisation of a day to honour those who catalyzed the process leading to our achieving sovereignty. It is the 42nd celebration of the establishment of Jamaica's National Heroes Day, where, upon reflection we honour our heroes and heroine who planted the seeds for deinstitutionalisation of slavery, colonialism and dependency, the genesis of the meaning of our national flag. The term, National Heroes Day, often conjure-, up negative emotions in many of us and unfortunately sometimes cause a lot of focus on the specific condition of slavery.
For some, the reflection elicits a type of anti-colonial nationalism as it relates to a history that meant we were subdued by a foreign power. The black in our flag seems best understood for "the hardships there are" as I had learnt it to mean during my years of classroom education. It had been my experience that the Jamaican Flag, for a long time, did not stir a strong sense of patriotism and pride in Jamaicans living here. It didn't seem so, at least, until Jamaica first qualified for the World Cup Football. I was amazed at the energy that was felt by Jamaicans at home during that time. The Jamaican Flag took on significance among at- home Jamaicans that it was of such that it seemed palpable - it was fascinating! The black in our flag now emanated the meaning it was originally intended to have - that is, to depict the strength and creativity of our people. The gold was the predominant colour of our teams in keeping with its original symbolism of our natural wealth and beauty of the sunlight supporting the slogan for the Reggae Boyz who was on the path to gold. Jamaica was the first English Speaking Caribbean Island to qualify for the games. But talent for sports is just one of our many sources of gold.
However, we are here today because we recognize and appreciate that our deep cultural heritage is much more than that the fight for independence. Our history is fascinating. Though the Spanish and British dominion and exploitation is well recorded in our history, our independence marked the beginning of the journey of a building process for the country. The parish of St. Ann features frequently in that process splashing colour all over our nation's heritage on that journey and the St. Ann's Bay Regional Hospital shares that special position with the parish.
The hospital is on lands that were part of the Seville Plantation established during the Spanish reign. Seville was once the capital of Jamaica. In fact, it was the first Capital of the country. The Seville Plantation was owned then by Mr. John Hoskins who was a very kind hearted plantation owner. He donated a portion of these lands in the late 1920s to facilitate the construction of this hospital as well as a nursing school. It started operations in 1929 during the colonial era when full scale medical treatment was available to only a privileged few. The hospital would then cater to the less fortunate. Some records suggest that the only other hospital for the indigent in the country was the Kingston Public Hospital and the Bellevue hospital in Kingston.
As the established capital of the country, Seville had the port of entry that facilitated many of the firsts for the Western Hemisphere, including electricity and railway. Our national fruit, the ackee, along with breadfruit, is believed to have been circulated through Jamaica from the parish of St. Ann. St. Ann has played a significant part in the nation's journey to self dependency. The now mature cruise shipping industry, for which Ocho Rios plays a significant part, led to Jamaica's capping the coveted 2006 World and Caribbean Leading Cruise Destination. The bauxite industry, which at one time was the world's largest, was in the parish. These industries and the supporting communities have this hospital as their only place for hospital medical care in the parish. Our first national hero was born in this parish, in a home within walking distance from this hospital.
Heroes Day is not just a time for reflection, it is also for celebration. This hospital has developed from an 80 bed service -only hospital to a 250- bed service hospital, now accredited for post-graduate training of health care professionals, and now has a mandate to deliberately contribute to research in the area of health care delivery. Not many organisations depict our national motto so obviously as our health care team which is comprised of a mixture of people from around the world. Along with African descendants, we have Oriental, Indian and Caucasian in keeping with theme "out of many one people". This is a hospital, like our country, with a bold and exciting future. Our flag on this compound is our commitment to us playing our part in advancing the well fare of the whole human race. The Jamaican flag, the black for the strength and creativity of our people, the natural wealth and sunlight gives us a cross of gold and the green, not just for the wealth of agricultural resources, but was also meant to depict hope. My two year old daughter brought home a piece of her classroom heritage week celebratory activities - a diagram of a Jamaican flag that she had coloured. She said, "here Mommy, I brought home Jamaica for you". I thought, how profound! Jamaica is ours because of our heroes and heroine.
The raising of our National Flag here is a symbol that, despite our challenges, we will do justice in the area of health care delivery and by extension, nation building in honour of our National Heroes that earned our sovereignty.
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