Good morning, everyone.
Welcome, and thank you for being here.
Today is a very special day for my team and me. After months of planning, advocacy, hard work and commitment, we are officially reopening this health centre — and it is a beautiful facility.
But what makes me most proud is not simply how it looks. It is what it represents for the people who live here: access, opportunity, and care close to home.
When I stood here at the groundbreaking last year, I said this project was about making high-quality healthcare accessible to the people of the West End. Today, that commitment has become reality.
For too long, West End residents had to travel outside their community to access important health services. Now, this facility brings essential care closer to the people who need it, including oral health services, well-baby visits and immunisations, physical, occupational and speech-language therapies, sexual and reproductive health services, adult wellness clinics, and integrated mental health services in partnership with MWI.
The redevelopment includes a community health office, a dental suite, hygiene, lab and exam rooms, an interview room, a medical exam room, a vaccine and isolation room, a reception and waiting area, a kitchen, and staff and patient washrooms, all supported by a new foundation and structural upgrades.
These purpose-built clinical spaces improve patient flow, privacy and service delivery. The dedicated dental suite and vaccine/isolation room allow these services to be delivered safely and appropriately, while the upgraded staff facilities support day-to-day operations.
The Department of Health will commence full-service delivery at this clinic on the 5th of October 2026.
This is a significant investment in the health and wellbeing of this community, and one I am incredibly proud to have been part of.
Projects like this require vision, planning, funding, and people who are willing to keep pushing forward, even when the process takes time. I want to thank everyone who played a role in getting us here.
To the Ministry of Health team, thank you for your hard work and commitment. To the Ministry of Public Works & Environment, the professionals, contractors and partners, thank you for bringing this facility to life. And to the residents of the West End, thank you for your patience and for believing in the importance of having this clinic back in your community.
This project is particularly meaningful to me because this is home. I live here. I walk these streets. I speak with residents. I hear directly about the issues that matter to families, seniors, parents and young people. So when we talk about healthcare access, it is not an abstract conversation for me. I understand what this clinic means.
And today, there is an added significance.
We will honour a woman who understood the value of community-based care long before we used those words. A woman who believed that caring for people was not just a profession; it was a responsibility and a calling.
Her name is Alice Scott.
Groundbreaking nurse, pioneering educator, suffragette, and trailblazing political figure, Alice Scott dedicated her life to building a fairer Bermuda.
Born in 1887 to a family whose roots stretched back to enslavement, she grew up in a world marked by racism and limited opportunity. Yet she refused to be limited by it.
In 1912, she became one of the first Bermudians to qualify as a registered nurse, graduating from Lincoln Hospital in
New York at a time when Black nurses could not train or be hired at Bermuda’s hospitals.
Undeterred, she returned home and spent years serving as a midwife and private duty nurse, delivering countless babies in Somerset.
In her mid-30s, she founded the Shady Rest Nursing Home at her family home, where she provided care to elderly residents and first aid to neighbours for four decades.
Her commitment to community advancement extended far beyond healthcare. In 1927, she co-founded Sandys Secondary School and fought tirelessly to keep it alive — even mortgaging her own home to ensure its survival.
The school later became a fully funded public institution and remains a cornerstone of education in the West End.
Alice Scott was also one of Bermuda’s few Black suffragettes, serving on the executive of the Bermuda Woman Suffrage Society. She helped secure women the right to vote in 1944 and, four years later, was among the first women to run for Parliament.
A woman of extraordinary energy, she also founded tennis clubs, competed overseas, and encouraged women to stay active through sport.
Her contributions were recognised in 1954 when she received the British Empire Medal. But her true legacy lives in the countless lives she touched — as a nurse, an educator, an advocate, and a community leader whose courage helped shape modern Bermuda.
gives me great pleasure to announce that this health centre will carry a name that reflects the history, service and spirit of this community.
From this day forward, this facility will be known as: The Alice Scott Health Centre — In Honour of a Life Dedicated to Caring for Others.
To the Scott family, thank you for being here today and for sharing this moment with us. I know how meaningful it is to see your family’s name placed on this building.
We are honouring Alice Scott because of what she gave to this community.
Her life reminds us that healthcare is about people, dignity, compassion, and showing up for your neighbours.
And that is exactly what we want the Alice Scott Health Centre to represent:
- A welcoming place where people feel supported.
- A caring place where compassion guides every interaction.
- A wellness-focused place where prevention and healthy living are valued.
- A community place where families can access services close to home.
- A strengthening place that improves the health of the entire West End.
Today, I am proud of the Ministry of Health, proud of the team that worked so hard to bring this project to completion, and proud of the West End community. And I am especially proud to see the name of Alice Scott take its rightful place on this building.
This is her community. This is her legacy. And now, her name will stand here as a reminder of what service, courage and commitment can accomplish.
I now invite Mrs Shoshana Scott Williams the great great niece and Lt. Col David Burch great nephew, to join us as we cut the ribbon and open this facility. At this time, I invite Col Burch to deliver a few words before we proceed with the ribbon-cutting.
Thank you.
