News Briefs

Credit unions give $4m to telethon

The Jamaica Cooperative Credit Union League (JCCUL) on Tuesday handed over J$4 million to Telethon Jamaica: Together We Stand, the fundraising initiative to provide the country’s front-line healthcare workers with equipment to battle COVID-19.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange, who led the team that organised the telethon, received the symbolic cheque from JCCUL Group CEO Robin Levy.

JCCUL Group Marketing and Communications Manager Claudette Christie said that credit unions would continue to “work cooperatively with agencies as together, we fight this dreaded virus”.

“Our credit union mantra is ‘people helping people’. This is not only true of the services that members pool their resources to provide each other. It is also true of the way we treat with our Jamaican brothers and sisters,” Christie said.

PwC pumps funds into COVID-19 response

PwC Jamaica has bolstered the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) COVID-19 Response Fund with a donation of J$4 million.

The fund, which has a target of J$250 million, will be channelled towards food security and health services.

“The impact of COVID-19 on the people and communities of Jamaica is unprecedented. We are now facing challenges that are creating new norms for all of us,” Leighton McKnight, PwC Jamaica territory leader, said.

PSOJ President Keith Duncan said that the donation was a small step in a greater journey towards recovery. “It takes us a step nearer to our goals and will help us in our fight against the impact of this pandemic. PwC’s contribution and thoughtfulness is a shining example of corporate responsibility.”

High-tech COVID therapy not on the cards

Jamaica lacks supporting systems to enable the full use of the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy, which could be used to fight COVID-19.

This was disclosed yesterday by Chief Medical Officer Dr Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie, who noted that other countries have been using it to support patients who have been severely ill because of the respiratory disease.

“I want persons to realise that having a machine or system is one thing, but also having the personnel to support it, and all the necessary lab and other support that are needed, is another thing.

“We do not have all of those facilities right across the island, so that kind of technical, more advanced treatment would only be available at the UHWI if put in use for COVID-19 patients,” she said during a virtual briefing.