Beverley Thompson cares

SHE’S dynamic, hardworking, passionate and committed to service, especially when it comes to children and people with special needs.

Born and raised at Up Park Camp in St Andrew, Beverley Thompson told All Woman that having a soldier as her father instilled many values of discipline in her life and taught her boldness. As such, when she attended Excelsior High School she tapped into those values and became an all-rounder.

“I participated in just about anything, and being the outgoing person I was at the time I participated in netball, I was on the track team, I did drama, music, and I sang a little. Excelsior grounded me and made me a rounded person,” she said.

When it came time to decide on what career path to take, Thompson said at first she had set her sights on becoming a dietician; however, on seeing an offer for a scholarship to study nursing in England, she opted for it as the requirement was to write a composition — something she was excellent at doing.

“I loved English language and I wrote why I wanted to be a nurse and won the scholarship,” she said.

But Thompson said the night she was set to leave she didn’t get her father’s blessing, so she decided not to go.

“I believed family was first and I love my dad so much that whatever he said I felt he was doing it for the right reasons,” she said.

This decision led Thompson to work at the Bank of Jamaica before getting the opportunity to travel once more, this time to Canada.

“At this point I told my dad that even though I didn’t take the scholarship before, I was going now and needed his blessing and he gave me the nod,” she said.

At this point the self-proclaimed globetrotter left Jamaica and stopped in Miami before heading to California for a year with an aunt, then embarking on a four-day journey via the Santa Fe train to Canada to live and study.

“I always wanted to be in the medical field so I went to Canada and there I studied medical assisting and phlebotomy — the art of taking blood at The Career Academy,” she said.

Shortly after, she got a job at the Victoria General Hospital in Canada as one of the first set of people from the Caribbean to graduate and work there, but she became tired of the cold and came back to Jamaica.

Now a trained phlebotomist and certified medical assistant with a diploma in management studies, Thompson, who had worked with Biomedical Laboratories for over 11 years, said her work is necessary.

“It’s an invasive procedure so you have to know what you’re doing. Some people get squeamish, but I was never like that. I learnt that one drop of blood could tell you if something was wrong. Also, seeing it coming from the main vein is marvellous,” she said.

Possessing an innate ability to serve people, she wanted to do more, and on the invitation of a friend to a meeting to discuss the possibility of starting an all-female service club — Kiwanis Club of New Kingston — she went, fell in love with the idea and never looked back.

“I never thought of a service club, but at the meeting I liked what they were talking about. I tried it and there was no stopping me after that,” she said.

Now the lieutenant governor for the Kiwanis Division 23 East, Thompson, who has served on all committees except being the treasurer, said her passion really comes out when it relates to children, babies, young adults, the elderly and those with special needs.

“I have friends who have autistic children and children with special needs. I found myself drawn to them when we started an ‘Aktion Club’ where young children and adults with special needs would meet at their school and do things. They are not born 100 per cent, but I am 100 per cent and I get up and complain and they aren’t complaining. When I look at all they are able to do, I get emotional. In my year as president [2000-2001], the club’s focus was on special needs and we helped to build a school at Sophie’s Place.”

For her commitment she has 12 awards from Kiwanis.

Thompson added that when it comes to service you have to want to do it and not just see it as an accolade on your résumé.

“It has to be something that’s there. Just as how I will work all week and on a Sunday when they feed the old people down at the golden age homes I’m there, you have to be that dedicated. Being involved with Kiwanis is merely an extension of my lifestyle from childhood to adulthood, as I was always involved,” she said.

The mother of three boys, Thompson is a lover of all music, enjoys cake baking and decorating — specialising in wedding cakes — gardening, painting, batique and serving at her church, St Margaret’s.

“Don’t do something because someone is doing it. Choose the field you want and make sure it is something that you love,” she said. “If you’re not true to yourself you can’t be true to others. Love and respect each other, as love surpasses everything.”