JAMAICAN CHILDREN will have much to hope for as the Issa Trust Foundation and Blank Children's Hospital (Iowa), will hold a fundraiser in June to raise money for the foundation's annual children's clinic.
The clinic, which we be held in September of this year, will see doctors from the Blank Children's Hospital volunteering their services to help children suffering from various health problems.
Last year, the group brought US$30,000 in medical supplies and equipment, and plans to expand further this year by taking US$40,000 along with an X-ray machine donated by the Iowa-based children's hospital, valued at US$56,000.
Alex Ghisays, group public relations manager of Couples Resorts, said: "This year we will be donating an X-ray machine to the Port Antonio Hospital in Portland. For this year's fund-raiser, the foundation will be auctioning a five-night, six-day vacation to Couples Resorts in Ocho Rios, inclusive of airfare."
LAST YEAR'S BENEFICIARIES
The medical group's goal is to serve 700 to 1,000 children at six clinics. The Retreat, Islington and Annotto Bay health centres were beneficiaries of the Issa clinics last year. From that clinic, three-year-old Sabrina Raffington was diagnosed with hydrocephalus (water on the brain), which required immediate surgery.
In January this year, the Issa Foundation made this possible by paying for the $60,000 surgery which was done at the Bustamante Children's Hospital.
Since the organisation's official inception in 2005, it has collected US$40,000 in donations, as well as various medical equipment including an X-ray machine which was donated to the Port Maria Hospital in St. Mary last year.
