Discovery at Marigot Bay continued its role as a good corporate citizen this week when the resort presented towels to the Golden Hope Hospital for use by patients there.The presentation was made on Tuesday, following a special lunch at the Boudreau restaurant attended by Golden Hope’s administrator, Emilienne James, principle nursing officer, Juliette Mondesir, and consultant psychiatrist Naomie Jn Baptiste, who articulated some of the challenges the island’s sole psychiatric facility faces.

Among the problems faced by Hospital staff and the 130 patients who use the facility is a serious shortage of bed linens, mattresses, towels and cleaning supplies. "We really need help from St Lucians. We are not a revenue earning institution and have to get everything we need from a very, very tight budget," said James. "We have 58 long term residential patients at the moment and our occupational therapy building is in a deplorable state, so we no longer have any money from the items our patients used to make. We have to cover salaries, food, cleaning and other supplies from the same small annual budget."

She continued: "People don’t understand mental illness and there is a great need for greater public awareness about the work we do at Golden Hope. The conditions we are working under and which the patients have to endure are very difficult. Things might improve when the new psychiatric hospital is completed, but at the moment we are really struggling."

Hearing about the plight of Golden Hope and having worked with the hospital before, Discovery’s Executive House Keeper, Elena Philips, decided to bundle the hotel’s surplus towels and present them to hospital staff—a gesture which was enthusiastically received. Speaking at Tuesday’s lunch, Discovery’s General Manager, Jason Clemons said he was happy that the resort could help even in a small way and hoped this would be the start of a closer relationship with the institution

"We need to set an example and do whatever we can to help. Unfortunately, the fact that psychiatric hospitals tend to be overlooked is par for the course in the Caribbean and we collectively need to do something about that," Mr Clemons said. "This is a small step in the right direction."