JMMB joins the fight against mental illness

SANTA CRUZ, ST ELIZABETH:

The Santa Cruz branch of the Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) has made a donation of $25,000 for the establishment of the Santa Cruz Street People Care Centre.

The facility, when completed, will be operated by The St Elizabeth Care Committee (STCC).

Jackie Mullings, branch manager of JMMB Santa Cruz, made the presentation to Joyce Francis, chairperson of the STCC.

However, the financial brokerage firm's contribution doesn't stop there, as three additional $75,000 cheques will be disbursed to the committee.

Every Tuesday, the St Elizabeth Care Committee provides a hot meal, a shower, and a change of clothing for mentally ill persons. On the first and fourth Tuesdays of each month a doctor comes in to treat those persons as well.

- Rayon Dyer

Alpart lauded for healthy clinics

BLACK RIVER, ST ELIZABETH:

The Alpart Community Council's executive has commended Alpart for its sponsorship of a series of monthly health clinics conducted in a number of communities in south St Elizabeth in partnership with the Southern Regional Health Authority.

Under the partnership, which commenced in 2004 and which has so far aided approximately 1,500 patients, the health authority sends its mobile clinic on a monthly basis, to districts located in Alpart's operating area.

The clinic conducts tests for blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, anaemia, heart disease among other conditions.

The Alpart Community Council coordinates all arrangements, schedules, and the number of patients to be accommodated.

Alpart bears 80 per cent of each patient's costs.

In other areas of health outreach Alpart sponsors nursing services at the Myersville Public Clinic, was a major sponsor for the opening of the Junction Dental Unit, and facilitates nursing services for the St Elizabeth Cancer Clinic through the United Way.

- Rayon Dyer

UTech student cops scholarship

ST ANDREW:

Twenty-seven-year-old Marlon Buchanan, a second-year student at the University of Technology (UTech), is the Lorrell Bruce Scholarship awardee for 2008.

Buchanan, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration, will receive a bursary of $200,000 that will go towards his tuition and books for the 2008-2009 school year.

He was recognised at a function at the Jamaica Cooperative Credit Union League's (JCCUL) office on International Credit Union Day.

The Jamaica Fire Service employee will graduate in 2012.

The award was open to credit union members, children of credit union members and members of staff of credit unions. Buchanan qualified for the award through his membership with Churches Co-operative Credit Union.

He was one of three applicants shortlisted for the award. He exemplified himself in the area of volunteerism. During his tenure at the Trench Town Fire station, the young firefighter was involved in an evening-class programme in which he helped young people from the area to improve their academic status.

JCCUL, the national association of credit unions, coordinates the award.

- Contributed

Big guns meet over water

MAY PEN, CLARENDON:

In an effort to sustain the rapidly increasing developments in the parish, Milton Brown, May Pen's mayor, invited some of the top guns in the water resources agencies to a water seminar held yesterday at the Halse Hall Great House in Clarendon.

E.G. Hunter, president of the National Water Commission; Basil Fernandez, managing director of the Water Resources Authority; Courtney Peters, superintendent of minor water supplies in the Clarendon Parish Council's (CPC) Road and Works Deptart-ment; Hopeton Peterson, manager of the Planning Institute of Jamaica; and Orrett Myrie, the physical planner at CPC, were the presenters at the seminar.

The men detailed the problems at hand for the parish and the way forward in water sourcing and conservation.

Among the solutions were: building more catchments, a wider harvesting of rainfall, building dams, desalination plants to treat water (south Clarendon has a number of wells that have high salt content), pumping water above sea level, improving efficiency in irrigation of agricultural land, reducing non-revenue water by reviewing infrastructure, and sustaining some of the wells using the artificial recharging system.

- Angella Chin