St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Andrew will benefit from a donation of more than 15,000 badly needed hospital items most of which are courtesy of Hotel Dieu, Kingston General and Cobourg hospitals and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.

Among the items being sent are stretchers, hospital beds, X-ray carts, linens, computer equipment, surgical gear and a decommissioned anesthesia machine. 

"The most exciting thing is imagining what it will be like when they get this container and they open it," said Pat Graham, one of the initiative's organizers.

The goods are estimated to be worth more than CAD$134,000.

The drive to help St. Joseph's Hospital arose after Graham and her husband, Hotel Dieu executive director Hugh Graham, visited the facility in February as part of a tour organized by the Jamaican hospital's executive director.

The Grahams were shocked by the poverty they saw and the dire needs of the hospital, which lacks even the most basic medical supplies.

Upon returning to Kingston, Canada, Pat Graham began working to get some help for the Jamaican hospital.

Yesterday, a logistics specialist with CFB Kingston helped her to pack the truck. At the same time, 10 soldiers from CFB Kingston, some Royal Military College cadets and other volunteers helped to load a tractor-trailer container provided by the Food for the Poor charity.

"It won't be the last [shipment]," Graham said. "I'm going to be looking for a storage container so that we can be collecting all year round."

This first shipment is expected to arrive in Jamaica by June 21.

Whatever St. Joseph's doesn't need will be forwarded to other Jamaican hospitals, she said.

As well as the hospital equipment and supplies, about CAD$2,000 worth of children's shoes are being sent, as well as thousands of dollars worth of football gear and clothing.