St. John Hospice (photo by Luigi Rodriguez)
On Monday October 27th, 2025, an article was published by the Editorial Staff of Antigua News regarding The St John Hospice. In response to the article and in support of the Hospice, two testimonials from relatives who’ve sought care for their loved ones from the Hospice and were pleased with the services provided.
Very interesting
Glad the relatives could share their stories. Transparency like this helps improve care for everyone.
A word of caution! Do not allow two letters from from an understandably grateful family to obliterate the concerns raised by another subscriber who possibly had a different, less impressive experience at the Hospice and in so doing, miss a:timely opportunity for improvement. Having a relative sent to the hospice must be the most horrible reality for both the patient if he/she is physically able to fully comprehend the death sentence and the grief stricken family members. The idea and presence of a hospice in Antigua is to heraldic as a most example of a nation caring for its own during their most vulnerable period in life – as they await imminent death. This, however, does NOT equate to “Just be grateful for the respite in having to personally attend to a dying family member and be grateful for such.” I respectfully beg to differ, however. The same noble, righteous, laudable motives which created and brought into existence the St. John’s Hospice here in Antigua and Barbuda, should always prioritize quality control assessments. Are relatives of the deceased ever invited to counsellings sessions by the institution where both advice and feedback are solicited? Could this nit gi a long way in mitigated the horrendous experience of being sent to hospice or having a loved one sent there to await death”s summons. This should never be based simply on one’s personal opinion. Too often in this country, the quantity and quality of “help” that one receives are linked to human, irrelevant social criteria. For this potentially magnanimous program to be way above reproach of any kind, the Minister/Ministry of Health must ensure the following. 1) the employment of carefully selected and well-trained medical personnel for an institution of this nature. 2) periodic but regular visits by a doctor or assistant to talk with patients and or family members where possible 3) the maintenance of at least a pleasant atmosphere far above the din of loud joking and storytelling by cackling nurses(?). radios or cell phones defiling the air quality with unnessarily loud programs, religious or otherwise.
Based on my personal observations from my deliberately brief visits to the hospice, there is much that can to be done in order to to bring this institution within sight of what a real hospice should be.
Sounds bitter. Have you spoken to the government about this? Yall use Antigua.news as a speech platform, is it because it’s said to be owned by the Prime Minister? Well until we can confirm that. Let’s use Facebook instead. All these official ministry pages, yap prime minister who is always posting and replying on Facebook. Don’t let your bitterness be limited to Antigua.news post. Take it to higher heights and let’s get change! A family is sharing their experience. Not everyone get the same experience from the same place! I don’t like Gaston but another person would say they love him. Sooooo, you can’t speak off of people’s experiences. You’ve had your own, maybe I should go and get my own.
Lol 😆. So if one person writes a letter and say they have a bad experience why two people’s letters were printed, that doesn’t mean the first person’s experience wasn’t legit. People like to take things personal. I hate nonsense
Hmmmmmmmmmm people in their feelings!!!!