A US$3.2 Million Health Complex Rises on Church Grounds in Montego Bay

• Hope Health Clinic was moving to a new complex at Blessed Sacrament Church, Montego Bay
• The facility cost US$3.2 million and took about four years to build
• The clinic had served more than 20,000 patients a year from Albion, St James
• No one is turned away for inability to pay

A clinic that has served Montego Bay’s working poor for four decades was preparing in early 2016 to move into a new US$3.2 million building on church land. The Jamaica Observer reported that Hope Health Clinic would open at its new home on the grounds of Blessed Sacrament Church in Montego Bay by the end of March 2016.

The clinic, run by the Good Shepherd Foundation, had been operating from Albion, St James, and served more than 20,000 patients a year, mostly working-poor and uninsured people. No one is turned away because they cannot pay.

The new complex was planned to offer general medical services along with dental, eye care and pharmacy departments, an outpatient clinic, doctors’ offices, staff quarters, a waiting area, a canteen, a laboratory, a rehabilitation centre and an operating theatre for minor procedures.

Board member Baldwin Powell said the building had taken four years. “Construction of the modern health complex that began four years ago was achieved through a visionary approach, tireless fundraising efforts, and the indomitable spirit of the Good Shepherd Foundation members,” he said. Director Kishin Samtani added: “The centre has made remarkable progress in the last couple of weeks.”

Putting a major health facility on church grounds is one of the more ambitious uses of church land in Jamaica. It makes use of a site the church already holds and brings a public service to people who might not otherwise afford it. For diaspora donors, many of whom give to health causes back home, the Hope Health project shows how church property, a charitable foundation and years of fundraising can combine into a lasting asset. Congregations with spare land near town centres may want to consider whether a partnership like this could serve their own communities.

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