BROADWAY HAS MADE its way to Bajan shores once again via the annual Broadway to Barbados show, which kicked off this weekend at the Frank Collymore Hall.
Director of sales and marketingat St Peter’s Bay, Alistair Brown, said Wednesday as the cast was introducedat the hotel, that the show – now in its third year – aims to be bigger and better thanits previous iterations both as a musicaland charitable event.
“Every year we’ve gone from strengthto strength . . . . And once again brought [together] the most amazing collection of talent . . . . But the most important thing is that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), our national hospital, gets the benefitof all this entertainment in some shapeor the other,” Brown said.
“Over the last 12 months we were almost$750 000 into collections towards the much needed equipment that went into the Intensive Care Unit and now we’re looking towards the Accident & Emergency. Our goal is $1.2 million this year and we hope that tonight, in some small way, we’ve been able to put more into that budget and meet our goals,” he added.
Chairman of the Broadway to Barbados Charitable Trust, Robert Bourque, said the trust has made tremendous progress in assisting the QEH, thanks to the private sector push.
“This year’s show is dedicated to the nurses of the QEH. We are going to starta programme to recognise, hopefully ona quarterly basis, the nurses of the quarter and at the end of the year recognisethe nurse of the year and find someprizes for them,” he said.
Bourque said the recognition would help improve morale and, more importantly,let the public know that the nurses and support staff were the reason why peoplein the hospital were well taken care of.
He also addressed the lack of sufficient supplies, which he termed as a “major issue”, and one which he hopes would be alleviated through their Supply Pack programme.
“We’ve started a supplies programme. . . and we’re selling packs for $200.The supply packs have been put togetherwith the assistance of Dr [Anne-marie] Hassell, to identify those particular needson a daily and ongoing basis, and we hopeto acquire enough support to maintain the ICU [Intensive Care Unit] and we hope to expand that to assist Dr [Chaynie] Williams with her endeavours,” Bourque said.
The February 21, 25, 26, 27 and 28 shows will feature the vocal talents of Alan Green, Jeannette Bayardelle, Chuck Wagner,Rita Harvey, Carole Demas, Carter Calvert and Danny Zolli. (SM)