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From the Jamaica Gleaner

Tuesday | November 10, 2015 | Adrian Frater

Paediatric care at the Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital in Westmoreland, got a major boost last week when the Issa Trust Foundation, in collaboration with US-based Heart to Heart Foundation, presented the institution with state-of-the art equipment valued at US$190,000.

The items donated included incubators, warmers for newborns, diagnostic equipment, operating lights and ventilators, among other much-needed equipment.

In expressing gratitude for the equipment, Dr Kerri Ann McKenzie, the hospital’s paediatrician, said the equipment, donated specifically to fully outfit a new Level 2 Special Care Nursery, will ensure advanced respiratory support of newborns.

“It will allow us to offer much better care, particularly to our newborns but also to the general department, ” said Dr McKenzie

Camile Lewin, acting chief executive officer at the hospital, expressed profound gratitude to the Issa Trust Foundation, saying the organisation had come to the institution’s assistance at a most opportune time.

“I want to express my deep appreciation to the Issa Trust Foundation for coming on board and assisting us where we’ve fallen short,” said Lewin, noting that while the hospital’s needs were great, the support they were getting was proving to be quite helpful.

Diane Pollard, president and chief executive officer, the Issa Trust Foundation, who was present for the hand over, assembling and installation of the equipment, expressed much delight at being able to assist the hospital.

“We’re excited at the opportunity to partner with the Western Regional Heath Authority and the hospital to bring acute neonate services to enhance what they already have,” said Pollard, whose team included technical experts, who assembled the equipment and advise senior staff on how to use them.

“We bring the equipment down, we make sure it is working,” Pollard said. “The foundation also paid for piped oxygen for the ward and, in January, we’re going to come back with our neonate specialist. We’re going to set up the ventilator and train staff to give these babies some comfort.”

The Issa Trust Foundation is a non-profit organisation created by Paul Issa’s Couples Resort to focus on supporting paediatric health initiatives. Heart to Heart is a US non-profit body that provides volunteers around the world and helps in disaster recoveries.

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Direct Relief’s collaboration with the Issa Trust Foundation began in 2015 with the delivery of essential respiratory medications, including 792 inhalers, oral corticosteroids, and sodium chloride for use with nebulizers. Diagnostic and respiratory supplies and equipment, such as infant and neonate blood pressure cuffs, a pulse oximeter, and a nebulizer compressor, were also included.

Read more on Direct Relief’s website »
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BE A CORPORATE PARTNER

Corporations and corporate foundations can make a real difference in the lives of our future the children
The Issa Trust Foundation a US 501(c)3 nonprofit working in Jamaica dedicated to delivering the most basic of human needs, we are an excellent choice to project an image of corporate social responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility programs strengthen public relations and marketing objectives, while involvement in charitable activities provides a great opportunity to motivate staff and improve morale.

Looking for a unique and creative way to engage your employees? The Issa Trust Foundation would like to partner with you to help raise awareness and funding. We hope your organization might be able to engage employees for a year-round engagement with the Issa Trust Foundation. The Issa Trust Foundation was created by the all inclusive Couples Resorts (www.couples.com ).

Your business benefits as well from teambuilding and opportunities for skills development and serves as a great way to increase involvement by senior management within your company. In a challenging economic climate, engaging employees in this way provides a low-budget way to service both your strategic philanthropy goals as well as your bottom line. When developing an engagement plan for your staff, you can:

* Foster Teambuilding
* Encourage Volunteerism
* Plan Some Special Events

Foster Teambuilding
Connecting a group of employees around a common goal is a great way to promote team building and engage participation.

You can foster some friendly competition among different employee groups by pitting them against each other in a fact-finding scavenger hunt, which incorporates information about the issues surrounding the children in Jamaica.

Encourage Volunteerism
Organizing volunteer opportunities is a wonderful way to make the whole experience come alive for your coworkers.

Your company could provide a gateway to engagement for likeminded coworkers.

Contact Diane Pollard, President & CEO to learn more!

Diane Pollard, President & CEO
Issa Trust Foundation
email: Diane.Pollard@issatrustfoundation.com
cell: 515-480-1683
Jamaica cell (when in country) 876-503-5903
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Recently named as Goodwill Ambassadors of the Issa Trust Foundation, an organization focused on pediatric healthcare and education for children and families in Jamaica, Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply (www.airsupplymusic.com) traveled on February 2 to the parish of St. Mary to witness first-hand the struggles of thousands of the island nation’s children.

The duo’s ambassadorship was announced in early February by Issa Trust Foundation Chairman Paul Issa.


The veteran hit-making duo toured Annotto Bay Hospital, St. Ann’s Bay Hospital and Free Hill Primary and Infant School. Diane Pollard, President and CEO of the Issa Trust Foundation, says, “Their award winning song ‘All Out of Love’ has a new meaning for us now. Air Supply performs 130 concerts a year and it’s wonderful that they still have time to show their love for our future, the children.”

Air Supply¹s Goodwill Ambassadors, Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock, traveled to Jamaica and immersed themselves into the culture and spent time touring Annotto Bay Hospital, St. Ann’s Bay Hospital and Free Hill Primary and Infant School in St. Mary Jamaica. We know the power of music can be healing and impact a person’s life. To have award-winning artists bring awareness and partner with the Issa Trust Foundation¹s sustainable and measurable programs is heartwarming and lifesaving. The healing power of music enriches our lives, and Air Supply has been providing the world with The Power of Health & Love for 40 years!

From BroadwayWorld.com. Read full article on BroadwayWorld.com article here »
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So many of us take the simplest of things for granted; we lack the acknowledgment of what a blessing the simplest things are. Take breathing for example. It’s likely most of us have never thought for one second about breathing, except for maybe when performing a hard work out or running a marathon. The cost of inhalers is beyond the means for many parents in Jamaica with children suffering from asthma. The demand is great and after day 3 of our recent medical mission we ran out of our supply. One of our returning Issa Trust Foundation volunteers, Monica Keleher with her brother’s assistance, wanted to do something when she saw the tremendous need to treat asthma during our medical mission. In order to fulfill the need for our July and September 2015 missions, we are trying our hand at an online fundraising campaign to help a child breathe by raising enough money to purchase 700 inhalers. We urge you to both support this effort and spread the word to your friends and colleagues. Thank you for your consideration and support. The mission of the Issa Trust Foundation is to provide a system of prevention, health promotion and education, community health improvement and other services to promote well-being and development for the people of Jamaica.
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From left: Issa Trust Foundation's medical director, Pat Brophy, with dental hygienists Silvia Flores and Mary Sullivan.
From left: Issa Trust Foundation’s medical director, Pat Brophy, with dental hygienists Silvia Flores and Mary Sullivan.

US Volunteers Deliver Medical Aid To St Mary Communities

Orantes Moore, Gleaner Writer
ORACABESSA, St Mary:

A MEDICAL team comprising more than 40 volunteers from the United States of America joined forces with the Issa Trust Foundation (ITF) to deliver a four-day mission across three districts in St Mary last month.

The delegation, led by the ITF’s medical director, Dr Pat Brophy, comprised pharmacists, physicians and therapists from hospitals in New York, Florida and Indiana, and targeted children in Oracabessa, Islington and Mason Hall with a series of mobile health clinics.

According to Brophy, the foundation, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, has developed a highly efficient process for providing quality, paediatric medical care as part of its long-term strategy to support and partner with local medical and other organisations.

He told Rural Xpress: “Four years ago, we introduced an electronic medical records system and now we’ve restructured into something like a clinical microsystem, so we’re able to run through over 200 patients a day, and give the kids great care.

“The system is a very lean process. The kids come in and register on our computer database, so we know if they are repeat visitors. From there, they have their vital signs checked and we monitor weight, growth, blood pressure and pulse and respiratory rates.

“If the patient is either a child aged between six months and two years, or a young lady over the age of 12 years old, they can also get their blood count [tested] because there is a high rate of anaemia in those groups, so we look for sickle cell or any indication of those kinds of things.”

While the children receive full body, dental and eye examinations, and medication and eyeglasses if necessary, completely free of charge, the foundation collects detailed information about each patient, which it shares with the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Brophy claims that between the annual missions and the ITF’s paediatric residency programme at Couples Hotel in Tower Isle, the charity has delivered health-care services to more than 60,000 children since 2010.

Nurse Jerre Grefe has travelled on four missions to Jamaica and watched the project flourish in recent years. She said: “I keep coming back to Jamaica because it’s a wonderful country with wonderful children.

Good care

“The work we do is important because every child deserves good medical care and health, and every year, [the mission] gets bigger and bigger because of word-of-mouth.”

Nurse Monica Keleher, who was returning to Jamaica for the second time, added: “Clinics like this are essential. I went to Haiti right after the earthquake and for three consecutive years after that because, in terms of sustainability, it’s important that we keep our kids healthy.”

The ITF’s primary objective is to support local communities and help the Government develop a “… sustainable and integrated health-care system,” said Brophy.

“We’ve been working towards developing an educational programme that is in alignment with the MOH’s plans, particularly for neonatology.

“We integrate ourselves within the paediatric community and our practitioners go out to local hospitals to participate in seeing patients on a daily basis.”

He added: “Last year, we noticed a decrease in incidents of asthma, probably due to education and changes in the Government’s smoking policy, which is good. Also, among some of the kids we’ve been monitoring for the past few years, there have been improvements in growth and a decrease in rates of anaemia.”

rural@gleanerjm.com

PHOTOS BY ORANTES MOORE

Quoted From the Jamaica Gleaner: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20141011/news/news6.html#.VDl0-IjUaFY.twi
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Jamaica’s Couples Resorts is applauding the efforts by the affiliated Issa Trust Foundation to make the world a better place. Following this month’s JAPEX tourism show in Jamaica, Couples hosted a trip for tourism industry personnel to Jamaica’s Free Hill Primary School and the Orcabessa Medical Clinic, run by volunteers of the foundation, and brought school supplies for the students. Seen here (l-r) are Brenda McInerney, Transat Vacations; Diane Pollard, president of the Issa Trust Foundation; Dean Sullivan, VP sales and marketing, Couples Resorts; Suzanne Fleming, national accounts manager Canada, Couples Resorts; Ivonna Szelerska, Couples Resorts; Paul Issa, deputy chairman, Couples Resorts; Cindy Gerhardt, WestJet Vacations; and Darin Meder, national accounts manager USA, Couples Resorts, with students from the kindergarten class at Free Hill Primary School. Source: Travel Press
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Free Hill Primary and Infant School in St. Mary, Jamaica is situated in the rural district of Free Hill, located approximately 10Km from it’s main town of Port Maria, the capital of St. Mary. The school, with students ranging from 4 to 12 years old, has a staff of 16 and caters to the social and educational needs of the 448 students. The students are drawn from the communities of Oxford, Geddes Town, Port Maria, Oracabessa, Bailys Vale, Jacks River, Fontabelle and as far away as Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Help build a playground for the children at Free Hill Primary and Infant School, St. Mary Jamaica. You can help by donating at: http://www.gofundme.com/bwb4io
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More than a thousand children will treated during the Issa Trust Foundation’s 10th paediatric medical initiative scheduled for September 25th September 30th. Dr. Pat Brophy, Medical Director, “The Issa Trust Medical Initiatives provide Paediatric focused general care for Children in Jamaica. While this has been the most notable component of our care program it has been largely enhanced by our year round ongoing efforts. We have dedicated ourselves to providing health based education, training and resource development support for the healthcare providers tasked with looking after Jamaica’s Children. In conjunction with other non-profit health based organizations and an active partnership with the Jamaican ministry of health we have provided real tangible improvements in child health. Importantly this has been done in a very cost effective and inclusive manner. We believe that working with the Jamaican government and local providers we can work at building a sustainable healthcare program for babies and children.” Kerri Cook, Lead RN, “nothing can make you feel better than helping a child get healthy! Thank you Jamaica for allowing us to come into your country and provide healthcare to your children. We will treat them like our own! And thank you for treating us like family! ” This year we have medical providers from many hospitals such as The University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, Iowa City, Iowa, Mercy Hospital, Des Moines, Iowa, and Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio. The team of 41 volunteers includes paediatric pharmacists, intensive care physicians, and hematology oncology physicians, general paediatricians, nephrologists, nurse midwife, pulmonologists, neonatologist, paediatric nurse practitioners as well as a paediatric nurse and respirator therapists. The team will also be providing health and education lectures at St. Ann’s Bay Hospital. In addition, this year all children will receive free eye exams and receive their glasses, if needed, at no cost, immediately after their exam, provided by the Michigan Lions. The Issa Trust Foundation was established in 2005 by Couples Resorts as a nonprofit organization. The mission of the Foundation is to provide a system of prevention, health promotion and education, community health improvement and other services to promote well-being and development for the people of Jamaica. poster announcement
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