TWO months after Hurricane Melissa ripped through sections of western Jamaica, leaving residents to navigate emotional trauma and limited access to health care, Food For the Poor Jamaica (FFTP) is responding to the challenges by taking a range of wellness services to the community of Ramble, Hanover.

“We recognise how important it is [to ensure] that as we’re doing relief there’s also the important aspect of health care. We view health as a full spectrum, so the medical doctors going in and examining along with the nurses to provide the checks are critical,” said director of partnerships and development at FFTP Susan Moore, who was speaking at the handover ceremony of seven 40-foot containers of hurricane relief supplies on Monday.

“We’re having sight screening, we’re doing the dental screening as well, and examinations. Most importantly, we’re also doing the wellness check-in, allowing persons who are suffering, and having emotional challenges to be assessed,”she added.

According to Moore, the event scheduled for this Saturday, January 10 at Knockalva Technical High School, was an initiative formed through multiple collaborations to bring back essential medical services to the community that lost the Ramble Hill Health Centre to the unrelenting winds of the Category 5 storm which made its landfall on October 28, 2025.

“We’re partnering with the University of the West Indies, as well as University Hospital of the West Indies. We’re also partnering with the Lions Club of Jamaica for sight screening and the Oral Health Unit at the Ministry of Health for the dental screening. Also we have A and E Ambulance to provide emergency response services and the Jamaica Aids Support for Life is also on-board helping us with screening,” said Moore in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

She expounded that the event would also heavily focus on providing mental health services to residents, particularly children, who she said, often suffered in silence, adding that FFTP also had partnerships with churches that would assist in the provision of psychosocial aid.

“So there’s two levels. Food for the Poor is a Christian organisation and as such, we have multiple partnerships with our churches. So we’re expecting our church partners to come on board to allow people who want to be able to speak to a pastor or a priest… but also more so, through the University of the West Indies. Its psychiatric team will be there to have a focus session.

“We’re also looking to see if we can have something as involved as therapy, but the intervention on the day will give people the time to sit with a professional, to be able to share what their concerns are, where they are, and to be able to identify if there’s any intervention needed at this time or how to help through coping skills,” said Moore.

She added that the occasion would include a ‘kiddies village’, which would allow children who experienced the catastrophic weather event a semblance of normalcy.

“We’re looking out not only for adults, but for children. So all these services mentioned are going to be accessible to children and adults. We are also recognising that while we’re doing this, it’s important to bring some play into the space and so we’re having a kiddies village. This is so that they will have an opportunity to have some time to really just do what children do best — play, which helps in growth and development,” said Moore.