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- Hannah Thomas Hospital Pediatric Ward
Never before have the children of Barbuda had a place of their own in the hospital—when illness struck, they were placed in the women’s ward. There was no pediatric care wing, no space that felt safe or comforting just for them.
But God made a way.
Through BFM, a section of the Hannah Thomas Hospital—left unrestored since Hurricane Irma—was brought back to life and transformed into Barbuda’s first-ever pediatric ward. With bright colors, cheerful artwork, and scenes like Noah’s Ark and towering giraffes, it’s now a place where children can smile through the healing.
- Location: Codrington, Barbuda
- Project Type: Community Health & Welfare Project
- Cost: $8,500
- Start Date: Aug 2021
- Completion Date: Oct 2022
- Project Status: Completed
Why Was This Project Selected?
A Pediatric Ward on Barbuda will make history. When children have to be in the hospital they are placed in the small women’s ward. One of many reasons a pediatric ward is needed is that it is a serious health risk to put elderly women in a confined area with sick children.
When a sick or injured child has to go to the hospital it can be frightening for them. BFM seeks to change that by creating a ward that is painted in bright colors with animated murals making it welcoming, pleasing and also provides a distraction for their little minds.
Project Details
Partners
- Gary & Anne Stern – Canary Labs, Martinsburg, PA
- Project C.U.R.E. Denver, CO
Throughout Ward
- All new wiring for interior lights and outlets
- Walls patched, sanded, wiped down and painted
- All door frames sanded and repainted
- Paint all interior doors and hang properly
- Replace all door knobs and deadbolts
- Scrape ceiling
- Paint murals for the children
Exterior of the Ward
- Remove all debris from the surrounding area
- Weed all the flowerbeds
- Spread sand to level out the ground by all entryways
- Remove all old rotten form boards
- Dig trench for shower drain line
- Paint entryway into the Pediatric Ward
Bathroom
- Cut Entryways into bathroom and shower room
- Demo the old rotten vanity and replace
- Tie in new plumbing to the vanity for the shower
- Tear up floor to bury drain line for the shower
- Fill drain line ditch with concrete
- Tile the new shower room
- Plaster the new walls made to block off the shower room and storage closet
- Build shelving for the storage room
Project Challenges
One of the largest challenges to this project is the restructuring of the wing’s current layout. Currently there is no access to the nearby bathroom and there is no shower. Remodeling and enlarging this small wing of the hospital and turning it into a functional ward requires cutting through 10” thick concrete block walls. All new bathroom fixtures are needed, and to add a shower requires a good deal of new plumbing to tie into the existing water and sewer lines.
What is the potential impact for the local community?
This project is already the talk of the Village. Children’s faces light up when they see painted murals and parents are already thanking us even before its completion. One face that lit up even more than the children, and is even more grateful than the parents, is the one and only Pediatrician who comes over from Antigua to treat the children of Barbuda at no cost.
BFM Mission Teams
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