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The Gleaner presents popular personalities from 2013

Published:Tuesday | January 21, 2014 | 12:00 AM
From left: Fay Heaven; Dr Fenton Ferguson,minister of health; Alicia James, chairman Manchester Wellness Foundation; Carolgene Williams, Myrna Bailey, Herschel Ismail, Jean Caesar Brown, and Danny Lewis, directors of the Manchester Wellness Foundation. The foundation handed over a cheque valued at $1 million to the neonatal ward at the Percy Junor Hospital in Manchester last year.


  • Food for the poor
  • Clifford blake
  • Manchester wellness foundation


Mandeville Regional Hospital gets boost to neonatal facility

The Manchester Wellness Foundation has been playing a major role in improving the standard of health care in the parish since 2003. The group donated $1 million to the Mandeville Regional Hospital, which will be used to assist in equipping the neonatal ward at the newly built Block J.

The funds donated will be used to buy vital sign monitors, phototherapy lamps, suction machines, and portable examination lamps for the paediatric/neonatal ward. To date, the foundation has donated more than $7 million in cash and equipment to the Percy Junor Hospital and the Mandeville Regional Hospital.

- Keisha Hill

Outstanding contribution to the JCF

Noted crime fighter Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Clifford Blake was awarded the Golden Badge for his outstanding contribution in the field of law enforcement at the St Bess Golden Awards Banquet.

Blake hails from the district of Little Park, in Treasure Beach. He had his early education at Pedro Plain's Primary and later, Munro College, after which he enlisted in the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

Having successfully completed his initial training, Blake remained at the police academy, where he performed various functions at numerous stations. In September 1992, he was selected to participate in the Accelerated Promotion Programme, where he spent two years. During this time, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant and then inspector.

In 1997, he entered the gazetted ranks, being promoted to deputy superintendent. In seven short years he was promoted to assistant commissioner of police with responsibility for Area Three, later to Area One, Mobile Reserve Branch, Operations Branch, and the Training Branch. Blake was promoted to DCP in May 2013 and assumed responsibility for the Administration Portfolio of the JCF.

- Daviot Kelly

Food For The Poor donates equipment, medical supplies

Food For The Poor (FFP) Jamaica handed over well-needed health-care supplies to the Ministry of Health. The gifts included 200 wheelchairs, 40 hospital beds, four operating theatre lights, and two stretchers. FFP also provided 51 sofas for use in the reception areas, grief counselling facilities, and consultation units at hospitals. The lounge area for medical personnel at hospitals will also benefit from the sofas.

The donation was another sign of the charity's commitment to assisting the ministry with its mandate of ensuring the provision of high-quality health services and the promotion of healthy lifestyles and environmental practices.

- Keisha Hill