Jamaica’s first Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) was officially opened on May 30, 2019.  The CHASE Fund contributed $40 million to the $300 million project which began in January 2018 with donations from the Ministry of Health & Wellness and the National Health Fund.

The state-of-art equipment in the laboratory enables specialist clinicians to perform minimally invasive tests and procedures to diagnose and treat some of the most complex cardiac and interventional patients.

CHASE CEO, W. Billy Heaven in commenting on the CHASE contribution, noted the value of the laboratory to healthcare in Jamaica. “To maintain and improve the health of all we must shape a sound and efficient health system that will provide effective disease prevention and treatment options and care for everyone”, he said.  Heaven added that    the provision of state-of-the-art facilities and equipment would not achieve this outcome if it is not matched by good customer care and good maintenance programmes.

Mr. Heaven also noted that CHASE’s financial support to the UHWI amounts to $384 million to date.

The CHASE Fund has boosted the Lions Club of Kingston’s Sight Foundation with the purchase of a vehicle for its mobile sight screening service.  The vehicle will allow the team to conduct screening on the very needy and children in schools in inner city communities who would otherwise have no access.

Jim Luce (left), President and CEO of the James Dudley Luce Foundation and Robert Lawrence (right) First Vice-president of the Lions Club of Kingston chat with Hilary Coulton, Public Relations and Administrative Manager of the Fund after she presented the vehicle to the Lions Club.

The Fund’s objectives are in sync with those of the Lion’s Club Sight Foundation which has been conducting eye screenings for the needy and poor and children in inner city primary and infant schools since 1971, mainly in the Kingston Metropolitan Area.

Support for the screening programme falls under the Fund’s Health portfolio which has been financing projects that include the promotion of healthy lifestyles; building, upgrading, restoring and equipping health facilities; training for healthcare personnel; and developing and implementing programmes for cancer prevention, detection, treatment and care.

Trisha Williams-Singh, Chairman of the Early Childhood Commission, (left), Heidi Clarke, Executive Director of the Sandals Foundation and Hilary Coulton, Public Relations and Administrative Manager at the CHASE Fund (right), review material related to the Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes®, On Cloud Nine® Mathematics Workshop held at the Terra Nova Hotel on February 4-5, 2019.

The workshop, which was funded by CHASE, was presented by the Creative Language-Based Learning in collaboration with the Sandals Foundation, the Embassy of the United States of America and with the endorsement of the Ministry of Education.

Fifty-seven (57) educators from across the island spent two days learning methodologies that will be used to help students develop symbol imagery and verbalize the concepts for mathematics; learn concept imagery and numeral imagery; and improve mathematical reasoning and mathematical computation.

The CHASE Fund provided financial support for the Dudley Grant Memorial Trust Annual Early Childhood Development Conference which was held from November 8-9, 2018 in Montego Bay under the theme – “The Early Childhood Family: Home, School, Community”.  CHASE CEO Billy Heaven, pictured above, opened the Conference.

CHASE supported the reprinting of Six Great Jamaicans: Biographical Sketches, a compilation of the life stories of Archbishop Enos Nuttall, George William Gordon, Robert Love, Thomas Henry McDermot, Edward Jordon, and Herbert George De Lisser.  Written by Adolphe Roberts, the latest edition contains a new introduction by Matthew Smith.   CHASE contributed $600,00 towards the reprint in response to a request from the Institute of Jamaica.  CHASE’s contribution was acknowledged during a relaunch of the book at the Gleaner Company, North Street on November 11, 2018.

Minister of Health, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton (3rd right) admires the new linear accelerator machine as Head Radiation Oncologist, Dr. Praveen Sharma explains its operation.

Listening in were (l to r) Merle Donaldson, CHASE Director and Chair of the CHASE Health Committee, Member of Parliament for S.E. St. Andrew, Julian Robinson; NHF CEO, Everton Anderson; CHASE CEO, Billy Heaven; TEF Chairman, Dr. Carey Wallace (partially hidden); and Maureen Golding, Regional Director, SERHA.

The National Cancer Treatment Centre was opened on November 26, 2018 at the St. Joseph’s Hospital in Kingston and houses the linear accelerator which administers radiation therapy and is designed to treat lung, breast, prostate, head, neck, skin and other types of cancer with speed and accuracy.  The Centre at St. Joseph’s Hospital and another established at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in 2017, cost US$16- million, of which the NHF contributed US$10-million, CHASE Fund US$5-million and TEF US$1-million.

Sen the Hon. Ruel Reid, Minister of Education, Youth and Culture (centre), cuts the ribbon to open the newly constructed Edward Douglas Early Childhood Development Centre located in Douglas Castle, St. Ann on October 31, 2018.  Sharing in the opening were the Member of Parliament for St. Ann South Western Hon. Zavia Mayne,  the CEO of the HASE Fund, W. Billy Heaven and students of the Edward Douglas Early Childhood Development Centre.  The CHASE Fund financed the renovation of an existing building and built three new classrooms along with a bathroom, sickbay and staff room at a cost of $42.7M.

CHASE Fund Public Relations and Administrative Manager Hilary Coulton (right), cuts the ribbon to the new X-Ray Department at the Port Antonio Hospital with Dr. Stephanie Reid, Advisor to the Minister of Health.  The new X-Ray Department was officially opened on October 19, 2018 and included the handover of a state-of-the-art X-Ray machine by the CHASE Fund.  The new machine, acquired at a accost of $25 million, replaced a 30-year old machine and included an electrical upgrade in power supply.  Looking on is Hugh Perry, Chairman of the Board of Management, Port Antonio Hospital.