More than 600 residents from rural communities in Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth received free medical checks on December 15, 2011 thanks to the team from the Don Daly Medical Mission, a 41-team of volunteer doctors from Florida’s Nova Southeastern University.
In collaboration with the Sandals Foundation, the team of optometrists, cardiologists, occupational therapists, nurses, pharmacists and medical students held 14 clinics administering treatments and medicines for illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, skin and fungal infections along with other medical conditions.
In addition to the 600 adults, more than 60 children from the Sandals Foundation-adopted Culloden Early Childhood Institution also received general check-ups and eye care during the six-day programme.
Initiated more than 11 years ago by Don Daly, a Jamaican radio host in Florida, and Paula Anderson-Worts, a Jamaican-born doctor and associate professor of family medicine at the university, the medical mission has touched the lives of thousands across the parishes of St. Mary, St. Ann, St. Catherine, Kingston and St. Andrew.
This year’s mission was the first year the team reached communities in Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth.
In addition to providing free health care, members of the community were also able to fill prescriptions and receive reading glasses from the team of optometrists and pharmacists.
According to Daly: “To give someone a pair of glasses means so much as you’ve now opened up a whole new world for that person. Some of these persons were getting their eyes tested for the first time.”
Daly lauded Sandals Resorts for supporting the mission since its inception: “Sandals Resorts International and now the Sandals Foundation have played an integral role in the implementation and tremendous success of this mission,” he said.
He also thanked former minister of health, Dr. Peter Phillips and Dr. Morais Guy in St. Mary for their role in the birth and growth of the mission. Other major sponsors of the mission are MoneyGram, Jamaica National Building Society and Grace Kennedy.
