ODPEM And Digicel Foundation Partnership To Benefit People With Special Needs

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) has entered into a partnership with the Digicel Foundation to retrofit five schools for the accommodation of persons with disabilities.

Under the project, the schools that are designated as emergency shelters will be equipped with ramps with rails, wheelchair access to bathrooms with necessary accessories, and shelter signage.

The institutions are Nain High School in St. Elizabeth; New Forest Primary and High School, Manchester; Ensom City Primary School, St. Catherine; Revival Primary School, Westmoreland, and Papine High School, based in St. Andrew.

Speaking at a signing ceremony for the partnership, held at the Ensom City Primary School last Thursday (September 23), Principal of the institution, Karlene Collins-Dawkins, said it was an exciting moment for the school community, as they had wanted to make the facility more accessible to students with physical challenges.

She said part of their core values is to achieve excellence through collaboration, perseverance in a safe and secure environment and, “I am so elated that ODPEM and Digicel together have come to support us. It shows that you have the community at heart and the school,” the Principal told her audience.

Chief Executive Officer of the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation, André Griffiths, said when they have to arrange emergency shelters it poses many challenges, and the Corporation is “supportive of the initiative, and grateful that it will be a direct benefit to the school,” he told the ceremony.

Director-General (Ag) of ODPEM, Richard Thompson, said the agency is ensuring that emergency shelters accommodate persons with disabilities and reduce risks to vulnerable persons when they have to use the facilities. He pointed out that 90 per cent of the shelters are schools, and the learning institutions will significantly benefit from the partnership.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of the Digicel Foundation, Charmaine Daniels, reported that since 2014, the group has invested US$125,000 in its ramps project to cater for persons with disabilities, and regarding the ODEPEM agreement, “we will look to continue to partner with them”.

“Let’s do our part in whatever way we can, however small it is, to make a difference in the life of someone with special needs. It is not an easy road.  A lot of times it just needs us to be considerate of their needs and plan for them,” Miss Daniels said.