One week after the Category 4 storm ravaged Grenada’s islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique where about 11,000 people live, the container and its precious cargo arrived at the moment of utmost need.
A four-member crew of teammates and members of the nonprofit Partners 4 Global Health (P4GH) watched Wednesday as the container doors swung open. The sight was a beacon of hope — crutches, wheelchairs, walkers, orthopedic boots, beds, scrubs, TV monitors, office furniture, patient chairs and so much more were swiftly loaded onto trucks. The equipment navigated the steep climb to St. George’s General Hospital in the capital, ready to serve a community wrecked from the storm.
The container arrived in Grenada this week aboard the Contship Gem.
Plans to help Grenada have been in the works since February 2023. That’s when Renee Lyons, wife of Director of Corporate Communications and Content Strategy Andy Lyons, accidentally fell while on vacation in Grenada, breaking her ankle and fracturing her arm. The kindness and compassion of the people of Grenada and the healthcare system’s clinicians drove Lyons to join forces with P4GH to bring Grenada equipment they didn’t have. (Read more about their story in “Mission to Grenada: Turning Broken Bones into Blessings.”)
The P4GH team cleaned hurricane debris.
This week, Andy Lyons and teammate Ali Swanson, an orthopedic physician’s assistant who founded P4GH after earning the President’s Humanitarian Award, along with P4GH representatives Jerry Franklin and Chris Kendall, met the container and strategized with Grenada’s top government officials how to best support the country’s healthcare system.
On Sunday, the team helped clear trash and debris in St. Patrick, the parish on the main island hit hardest by the hurricane. On Monday, Swanson joined Dr. Kendra Blanchard, the physician who treated Renee Lyons last year after her fall, as Dr. Blanchard saw patients with orthopedic injuries.
Ali Swanson cares for a patient in the orthopedic ward of St. George’s General Hospital on Monday.
The team met Tuesday with Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell; Ministry of Health, Wellness & Religious Affairs Philip Telesford; Chief Medical Officer Dr. Shawn Charles; and Director of Medical Services Dr. Tyhiesia Donald. The group discussed Grenada’s biggest needs and the next chapters of the mission work. P4GH with the help of Roper St. Francis Healthcare is providing insight and information on how to promote mental health and wellness among clinicians and hopes to bring Grenadian physicians to the Lowcountry for shadowing and education. Plans are in the works for a total joint replacement team to travel to Grenada to serve patients.
“When Renee broke her ankle, Grenada treated her with compassion, faith and excellence, the very tenets of our mission statement,” said Andy Lyons, who is also a member of P4GH. “I struggle to put into words exactly how this country has touched my heart forever. We’re so blessed to work for a place that encourages us to carry out our mission outside our own walls and help our peers.”
Editor’s note: It takes a village of volunteers and benefactors to deliver a shipping container to another country. In addition to Roper St. Francis Healthcare donating the largest portion of the equipment, Mike Messner and Jenny K Messner of the Speedwell Foundation funded the shipment. Neal Brothers Charleston Inc. lent expert packing skills, Sons of Consolation Ministries donated two truckloads of orthopedic equipment, and Savannah Logistics Group assisted in carrying cargo for a separate mission to Honduras.
