APART from a low-key donation valued over US$500,000 (around $75 million), a United States charity with deep Jamaican roots has vowed to continue injecting the sick with potions of love and happiness that will boost the nation’s healing.

A 10-strong delegation from the Jamaica Awareness Association of California (JAAC) was in town last week — to be specific about a half of them — in a certain rural Jamaica town called Annotto Bay, on the tip of the St Mary sea coast, not only donating medical equipment to the medium-level institution of care, but getting volunteers proven in their disciplines deeply involved as well.

Elsewhere, organisation President Patrick Williams was leading an education team that also included Executive Vice-President Jackie Small and Vice-President for Education Shawn Miller, in schools across the island handing out supplies, including tablets, as well as items to other hospitals.

The 35-year-old JAAC, which assists the needy in many areas, also has the input of medical personnel based in New York. A vast majority of them are either Jamaican by birth, roots, or admiration.

JAAC’s Vice President Medical Chair Claudette Coleman was ecstatic that the Jamaica Government allowed the charity to resume its act of generosity that it had started several years ago with provision of equipment, doing surgeries, training local medical staff, and inviting Jamaican workers to see conditions, from other angles, in California.

Due to constraints brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic the visit included five medical personnel and five others in direct education which lasted four days and was, as a priority, used to relaunch the laporoscopy programme of non or minimal invasive surgery at Annotto Bay — known widely as Jamaica’s leading centre for laporoscopic surgical procedures — by doing some surgeries and training hospital staff.

A second trip for the year, which usually occurs under normal conditions, is being considered by the charity for late November but, according to Coleman, it all depends on if approval is granted by the Government.

The now-retired registered nurse said that over $500 million has been spent on activities in Jamaica during previous visits to this country.

“That’s something we are going [to go] back and talk about seeing if we could return here later in the year. All we need is permission from the Ministry (of Health and Wellness). COVID is so unpredictable. We are truly grateful for the fact that we were selected by the ministry to come to Annotto Bay in the first place,” she said of the charity which primarily raises money from the staging of fund-raising events, and donations.

Dr Donald Phillibert Jr, director of gynaecology services for the JAAC, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, and director of labour and delivery at Columbia University, said passing on knowledge to Jamaican medical colleagues was of paramount importance.

“We are on a mission of sustainable global health care in Jamaica — not one in which we are coming to directly take care of patients but more to teach, so that when we leave we want to ensure that Jamaican doctors are taking care of their patients. We want to be humble as we come down because not only do we teach, but we also learn.

“Things are done differently here, and sometimes we are amazed at the use of resources to get the same outcomes with less, or with different resources. When there are less resources you have to be more efficient, more flexible, be able to think on your feet — and you have to have a great team mentality. You have to be patient to find different ways of making things work,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

As for the staff at Annotto Bay Hospital, the Jamaican-born is highly motivated by their attitude.

“There is respect among nurses and physicians as colleagues where we are learning from one another, and it has become a very deep relationship over the years. It has blossomed into deep friendships — we know each other’s families. We have an international group of people from many countries, with different belief systems, but they all have the same aim… encouraging sustainable care in Jamaica.

“We have had missions of over 100 people before. Now that we are trying to rebuild and trying to find out what resources are no longer here, and what resources are needed, this is more of a scouting group this year. With all humility, I am impressed that we have been able to do surgical cases already,” he said towards the end of the mission’s second day.

Performing procedures the laporoscopic way, according to Dr Phillibert Jr, allowed for less risk of infections, wound complications, and patients spent reduced time in hospitals.

“We have a longstanding relationship with Dr Ray Fraser [head of surgery at Annotto Bay Hospital]; we have had the team from Annotto Bay come up to New York and California to see our respective operations. The devastation of COVID made it very difficult to get supplies down, as there were supply chain issues on the [United] States side. Now, we are at a point where we are rebuilding. You do lose momentum over the course of two or three years but now we are optimistic that things are going smoother now,” he said.

Over the years the JAAC’s medical team has left its mark at other medical institutions, among them Savanna-la-Mar, Mandeville, Victoria Jubilee, Princess Margaret, May Pen, and Kingston Public. In the latter’s case, its senior surgeon Dr Lindberg Simpson is credited with doing the most laporoscopic surgeries in the Kingston region.

Supplies brought in are often shared with the institutions, which limits the possibility of them expiring.

“We want to make laporoscopic surgeries available to all Jamaicans, not just to those who have the means,” Dr Phillibert Jr emphasised.

According to mission head and associate professor of surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr Raymond Wedderburn — a Wolmerian, Brown University and Cornell University medical school graduate — he is trying to keep the torch of general surgery, trauma, and intensive care going.

“This a a great concept, bringing something that is not frequently done in the island — minimum invasive surgery — which is beneficial to all. Patients come in, do the operation, go home, and are ready for work again in less than a week. If I cut through all the muscles of your abdominal wall to take your gall bladder out, it’s four to six weeks recovery — so, it’s a huge difference in benefit to the patient. It’s a great idea to work with this project and do what we can to get as many people as possible,” said Dr Wedderburn who is also assistant chief of trauma, critical care, and associate programme director at Mount Sinai.

“I won’t pretend to be the expert, I listen. At the end of the day it’s about Jamaica and the Jamaican people,” Dr Wedderburn said while suggesting, too, that it would be good if other areas of health care were to be included in the future.

“For example, urology,” he said. “These patients with large prostates walking around with cathaters for a long period of time, a simple procedure to clear up an area would allow us to go back to living normal through cystoscopy. We are looking at the potential to expand, where else we can help. For whatever we do we have to partner with someone.”

The treatment of breast cancer too was another area the medical team was interested in looking at, arising from statistics provided by Cuba-trained consultant surgeon at Annotto Bay, Dr Andre White that the number of women doing mastectomies at the institution was “frightening”.

“Breast cancer is high in St Mary,” Dr White suggested. “Since I have been here a little over a year we have done over 30 mastectomies with young females, some in their 20s. That’s terrible. We will do a study to find out why. Is it the banana, is it the spraying? What is it?”

Dr Wedderburn chipped in: “If that’s a problem, I think that potentially we can help. Getting someone involved in the process to try and figure out what the problem is, that’s what we are going to do. How can we help? Where can we help? Who is willing to partner with us? It’s not about one person, it’s all about the people of Jamaica.

“I am not limited by geography; I am completely interested in Jamaica. I wear this [Jamaican ID lanyard] everyday at work so everyone knows where I stand. I am a US citizen but I am a Jamaican through and through. I want to come here and do whatever I can to help. My organisation and I are completely open-minded about going where we need to and try and help improve care,” Dr Wedderburn said.