RESIDENTS of Spring Village in St Catherine will have a welcome addition to their community with today’s scheduled opening of the I Believe Health Clinic.

The clinic is an initiative of the Spring Village Development Foundation and will be operated in collaboration with the St Catherine Health Department, which will provide the medical personnel. The opening comes a week after Governor General Sir Patrick Allen handed over a cheque of $200,000 to assist with the facility’s completion.

Spring Village was designated last year as a “model for community development” by the governor general’s I Believe Initiative.

Addressing representatives of the community and major sponsor of the foundation, the Jamaica Broilers Group — led by Group Chairman, Robert Levy — the governor general commended the company for its support of the projects carried out by the Spring Village Foundation.

“Jamaica Broilers not only operates its Best Dressed Chicken Processing Plant in the area, but the company gives back to the community,” he declared.

In endorsing the governor general’s remarks, the executive director of the Spring Village Foundation, Randy Finnikin, said since the launch of the Foundation 15 years ago, the Jamaica Broilers Group has been a consistent supporter of its programmes to empower residents.

“The Jamaica Broilers Group has been there for us from the beginning, right up until today with this Health Clinic,” Finnikin said.

He noted that the governor general’s I Believe Initiative has also provided the Spring Village Foundation complex with free Wi-Fi access to benefit residents in the HEART Trust training programmes, after-work and homework assistance initiatives, as well as to provide support for parenting and youth empowerment sessions. In addition, Finnkin said last year, the I Believe Initiative sponsored a Mr and Miss Spring Village pageant, which engendered camaraderie among members of the community and a Parenting Forum early this year, led by radio personality “Jenny Jenny” of the Jamaica Parenting School.

The clinic was primarily financed and constructed by a team of missionaries from the Jamaica Missions of Minnesota, USA, who are experts in various areas of the construction industry. They worked over three months to convert four-40ft. containers into a useable space, comprising three examination rooms, a dental room, medical personnel offices, drug storeroom, a laboratory, a waiting room and a ramp for wheelchair access.

“This new clinic will have state-of-the-art equipment to provide top-class, full-service care in mental, physical and dental health on an ongoing basis. Our strategy is that as the programme grows, residents who are interested in learning skills in the medical field will be trained to support the services being offered at the facility,” Finnikin said.

The Spring Village Foundation Complex houses the Spring Village Training Institute which offers HEART Level One and Two courses; the after-work and homework centres; an Internet-based community radio station, Spring FM, which broadcasts canned programmes produced in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning, headed by broadcaster Rosamond Brown. There is also an apiary funded by United Way with 86 colonies of bees which produce honey for market; a music programme to support the local marching band and drumming group; and the Spring Village Producers and Marketing Organisation to support the farmers.