‘WE BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST’

Activities for Social Work Month began on March 8 with the team from Bellevue visiting the Golden Age Home at Vineyard Town, where toiletries and walkers were presented to clients. The following day, inpatients at the hospital received their packages which were donated by Corporate Jamaica.

Between March 12 and 13, outpatients from St Thomas, St Catherine, Kingston, and St Andrew, were invited to collect their care packages from the hospital, while on March 14, JBG made available its Coaster bus to assist with special deliveries to those who were unable to make it to the hospital. JBG, known for its doorto-door distributions in Spring Village and McCook’s Pen during Easter and Christmas time, thought it fitting to partner with the social workers to serve in this way.

“At our core, we are a poultry company ... we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in His mission, and His mission becomes ours in terms of how we serve our communities. Our partnership with the Bellevue Hospital by going out into the communities has helped us to exemplify that,” declared Danah Cameron, group PR programmes officer at the Jamaica Broilers Group.

Tyghter-Shaw noted that during the distribution of food and care packages, her team does an assessment of the clients to check for signs of relapse in their mental health. In cases where such signs are observed, a team is alerted to that need. She also noted that persons who were living in poor conditions and needed to be referred to a welfare agency would be invited to her office for processing.

She added that outside of Social Work Month, the department at the Bellevue Hospital supplies packages to outpatients on an ongoing basis with the assistance of Food for the Poor.

The consensus expressed by team members from the hospital’s Social Work Department was that social work is a calling that requires a heart of love and an attitude of service.