Voluntary organisations support PSOJ COVID-19 Jamaica Response Fund

CHILDREN FIRST Agency, a non-governmental organisation which provides life-changing programmes for children and adolescents, was among the many voluntary organisations that supported the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) COVID-19 Jamaica Response Fund.

According to Claudette Pious, executive director of Children First Agency, the organisation participated in the collaborative effort because of its influence and community reach.“We are almost like a hub in terms of our work in the Spanish Town and Kingston communities, where we have numerous persons coming to us with various challenges, and we felt that we could assist both the PSOJ initiative and be the link that could help (the) PSOJ to get the information and items to persons mostly in need,” she said.

The 24-year-old organisation’s level of engagement included assisting with the distribution of care packages to these vulnerable communities. “The feedback from the community was overwhelmingly positive, and even now we have persons coming [and] for assistance,” she disclosed, pointing out that many vulnerable persons have lost their jobs and their financial independence to provide for themselves.

The Diabetes Association of Jamaica expressed that they participated to assist the diabetic and hypertensive population, who have stayed away from the clinics due to the fear of contracting COVID-19.

“We saw the opportunity where we could reach these patients in their communities and offer medical checks to these persons,” said Lurline Less, president of the Diabetes Association of Jamaica. She asserted that the association was also able to counsel these persons and provide dietary guidance in terms of food preparation and monitoring their diet.

“It was absolutely an overwhelming feeling. We wished we were able to reach out to much more persons and not just on a one-off basis, but on a continued basis. We would have liked to have gone back,” she said, noting that they found that some of these patients were fairly young, below the age of 49 years.

“We have to reach these patients in their communities. We can’t allow non-communicable disease (NCDs) to overwhelm the nation in COVID-19 and after the pandemic. Patients are still hearing that they are [among the] vulnerable group to die from COVID-19. Therefore, they are not coming out for the service,” she said.

Derrick Cotterell, chief executive officer of Derrimon Trading Company Limited, whose organisation provided warehouse facilities for the packaging of 72,165 care packages, also donated packaging materials, staff time, and assisted in getting donation from other partners.

“We were humbled to be put in a position to serve the public and the less fortunate, and we were happy to have done so,” he said.

Cotterell stated that the PSOJ and all the other organisations that were involved in the collaborative effort should be commended. He said it brought out the voluntary spirit.

The initiative was a collaborative effort of the PSOJ, the Council of Voluntary Social Services, American Friends of Jamaica and the United Way of Jamaica. The fund was an integrated national response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Jamaica and aimed to meet the needs of citizens and mitigate the threats associated with the pandemic by distributing aid, food items and personal protective equipment gear to individuals and areas that needed it the most.