'A Point of Celebration': After Four Years of Delays and Setbacks, JFL North is Ready For Action

"Some people graduate magna cum laude, summa cum laude. This project? Thank you laude," joked Governor Albert Bryan during his remarks at Tuesday's ribbon-cutting for JFL North, the modular facility being described as state of the art with medical equipment rivaling mainland hospitals.

The joke was fitting. JFL North received the notice to proceed in July 2018 and was supposed to be completed by the end of 2019. Four years later, after what felt like unending delays and setbacks, the facility is finally ready to begin operations. "I actually ignored this on my calendar. I saw it a couple of weeks ago, I was like, really? It's been a long, tough road," the governor added, reminding the public that the development of JFL North had five CEOs, two governors, two elections and cost $130 million, which Mr. Bryan said is "the largest project ever completed in the Virgin Islands."

Some of the delays could have been prevented — from attempting to attach medical gas pipes from the new facility with JFL's current system, a decision that failed, and failing to order important hospital furnishings that caused another protracted holdup. Governor Bryan on Tuesday said sometimes leaders must admit when they lack knowledge of certain matters and ask for help — words Mr. Bryan spoke during a January interview with the Consortium. “I want us to remember the lessons we have learned. You don’t know what you don't know. And as leaders, we all have to be humble enough to say we don’t know. We haven’t built a hospital before…We need to be brave enough to admit to ourselves when it’s too much. Like, we need help," he said Tuesday. Yet even as he spoke of these matters, the governor was elated to have finally crossed an important and long overdue milestone.