LJDR Davis Foundation medical mission brings free care to Clarendon
More than 70 volunteer medical professionals spent four days in Brandon Hill for the foundation's 13th annual mission, a volunteer psychologist writes.
CLARENDON, Jamaica. More than 70 medical professionals travelled to Clarendon Parish in Jamaica in July to provide free health care to residents during the LJDR Davis Foundation's 13th medical mission.
The team included nurses, nurse practitioners, a mental health team, pharmacists and a range of doctors, according to an account by Dr Nicola Beckles, a psychologist who volunteered for the first time this year.
Beckles wrote that she had wanted to take part in a medical mission for decades and agreed immediately when a friend from her gym introduced her to the foundation, which needed a psychologist.
A foundation built on memory
The LJDR Davis Foundation was created in December 2012 by sisters Novlet Bucknor-Davis and Pearlyn Clark in memory of Loretta, Jacqueline, Donald and Rohan Davis.
It provides health screenings, medical supplies, diagnostic exams, dental care, clothing, infant food and education to the Brandon Hill community of Clarendon, services that have since been extended island-wide.
All the medical professionals and their support team, including barbers and teenagers, volunteered their time over the four-day mission, which takes place every year.
A school turned clinic
The Evelyn Mitchell Infant School, a centre of excellence donated by the CariMed Foundation, was turned into a clinic offering dental, obstetrics and gynaecology, mental health, EKG, dermatology, paediatric and pharmacy services. Barbers offered free haircuts, and a small team worked at a local hospital.
Sponsors and donors provided pharmaceuticals, walkers, canes, wheelchairs and other equipment, shipped to Jamaica in a container ahead of the mission.
Beckles wrote that the team was about two hours from Kingston, travelling on unpaved roads, and spent four days in the mountains of Brandon Hill in heat above 90 degrees.
Residents spent entire days at the clinic, with every seat filled and standing room only as they waited for treatment for themselves and their children.
Local cooks hired by the foundation served Jamaican fare, from cornmeal porridge and ackee and codfish to curry goat and callaloo.
