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HomeNewsArchivesHOSPITAL GIVEN $10K IN MEMORY OF KIDNEY PATIENT

HOSPITAL GIVEN $10K IN MEMORY OF KIDNEY PATIENT

Dec. 30, 2003 – Juan F. Luis Hospital received a $10,000 donation on Tuesday from Gladys Rohlsen in memory of Raymond Moorhead, who died of kidney failure on Dec. 6, 1997, at the age of 61.
The donation in the form of a check was presented by Diedre Rohlsen Carver, niece of Gladys Rohlsen, on Tuesday morning at the St. Croix medical facility. The money is to be used for the hospital's hemodialysis unit.
Moorhead, the father of attorney Jeffery B.C. Moorhead, taught at the old Christiansted High School in Estate Richmond and was elected the first president of the territory's American Federation of Teachers union local. Later he was employed as director of highways in the Public Works Department.
"I presented the check on behalf of my aunt, who was Raymond's long-time companion," Carver said. Moorhead was a dialysis patient at Luis Hospital for the eight years preceding his death. "He received very special care while he was a patient, and my family wanted to give something back to the hospital," Carver said.
The hospital's Nephrology Department, a lifeline for Virgin Islanders suffering from kidney failure, provides services to more than 30 dialysis patients daily, and the staff is on call around the clock seven days a week. Services include evaluation of acute chronic kidney disorders in adults and children; treatment of renal hypertension, diabetes, collagen vascular disorders, corrective tissue disorders, kidney stone disease and infectious causes of disease; and renal transplant evaluation and referral.
Additionally, the department accommodates dialysis patients visiting the territory, either as on cruise ships or as overnight guests. A board-certified specialist in renal nutrition works with adults and children suffering from acute or chronic renal failure to address their dietary needs.
Dr. Lloyd Henry, hospital medical director and acting chief executive officer, said in a release that the donation will "make a tremendous impact on the hospital being able to obtain needed capital equipment for the hemodialysis unit."
Sen. Douglas E. Canton Jr., who chairs the Senate Health, Hospitals and Human Services Committee, made the arrangements for the hospital to receive the donation and assisted the Rohlsen family in making the presentation.
"The family did not want any fanfare," Carver said, "but I contacted Senator Canton to see how we go about making the donation. He felt that it was necessary to highlight the generosity of this act to spur others to make similar donations to the only medical institution on St. Croix, and the family agreed."

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