Donor presses for police first-aid skills after May Pen hospital gift

A philanthropist who once lived in state care and last Thursday gave the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA) medical supplies valued at over $5 million is pressing the Government to equip Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) members with first responder skills. He says that step could improve how the island answers emergencies and protect lives after road crashes and other urgent events.

Branatic Neufville, who owns the United Kingdom-based Rice and Things Group of Companies, floated the idea at a May Pen Hospital ceremony where he handed over 33 hospital beds, 20 bedside lockers and other medical items. The goods are to be shared between May Pen Hospital in Clarendon and Black River Hospital in St Elizabeth.

From long experience watching crises unfold, Neufville noted that officers frequently reach collision sites and other serious scenes ahead of anyone else, so dedicated emergency medical instruction for them would be a wise outlay that could keep people alive.

“I have noticed for many years, whenever we are on an accident scene, the first persons called there are the police,” he said. “Jamaica is lacking a proper ambulance service, and that’s no two ways about it. That’s a fact.”

He asked the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Ministry of National Security to join forces in examining whether police can be prepared as paramedics or certified first responders.

“I would ask that the message be conveyed to central government that maybe it’s time we start looking into training our police personnel as first responders ... because we all know, and I’m sure the medical fraternity will tell you, that the way we handle a patient in the beginning can determine whether that person lives or dies.”

In his view, a stronger national emergency response system belongs inside a wider development plan, with tighter teamwork across major ministries.

“If our country is to step forward with the great ambition of Vision 2030 and beyond, then there are four ministries that are critical to that growth and development that need to work in tandem with each other – health, education, justice and security,” he said.

He also floated putting elementary emergency care into schools, so secondary students learn hands-on first aid — among other skills, how to use blood pressure monitors, help older relatives, and spot when a patient needs a doctor or nurse.

Separately, Neufville warned that Jamaica may be close to a widening mental health emergency unless the psychological fallout from Hurricane Melissa is tackled soon. Rebuild work, he said, has mostly targeted housing and physical infrastructure, yet the distress faced by hit families — children especially — deserves the same focus.

“What I personally have seen is a problem brewing that, if we don’t arrest that monster at the door, Jamaica is heading for a serious mental health pandemic,” he said.

He wants mental health crisis units based in each parish to back vulnerable residents and deepen local help.

Brought up at the Summerfield Child Care Facility and St Augustine Place of Safety in Clarendon, Neufville said his own mental health battles heavily influence how he sees these issues.

“The boy that stands at this podium today had his own mental health issue,” he told those gathered, describing a time when he thought of taking his own life before concluding that God had a larger plan for him.

Those chapters, he said, have hardened his resolve to contribute, because people are a country’s most valuable resource.

“If we don’t have good health, then we have nothing at all,” he said.