Page 208 - UWI MEMORY BOOK

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SIMMONS, Ira Joe
1974 Biography 2018
In 1976, after his internship in Trinidad, he worked for two years at Victoria Hospital in St. Lucia then moved to Canada and specialized in Pediatrics at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In 1982, he returned to St. Lucia and became the first native born Pediatrician. He started as a Consultant at the main public Hospital in Castries and is still there.
As the only Pediatrician, Dr. Simmons came across a wide variety of childhood ailments from across the social spectrum and from all different parts of the Island. He also noted the challenges many parents faced in travelling to Castries to get medical attention.
Dr. Simmons initiated Monthly out-patient Clinics in
(1) The districts of Dennery, Vieux Fort, Soufriere in 1984.
(2) Clinics at the Sickle Cell Association’s office in Castries.
(3) Clinics at the School for Physically and Mentally Challenged children.
In 1989, as Rotary Club President of St. Lucia, he established the island’s first Mobile Blood Bank.
He voluntarily assessed disadvantaged children from the Department of Human Services. During the period 1986 to 1990, he gave voluntary lectures on Neonatology and Pediatrics to Student Midwives at Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. A founder member of The St. Lucia Sickle Cell Association he organized annual school lectures on Sickle Cell Disorders from 1989.
Over a period of ten years from 1984 Dr. Simmons, with the assistance of Dr. Richard Ishmael (Cardiologist in Barbados), they assisted over 35 children to travel to the United States of America for open heart surgery for free.