CHASE Fund Helps Good Samaritan Inn to Purchase X-Ray Machine

The Culture, Health, Arts, Science and Education (CHASE) Fund has partnered with the Good Samaritan Inn drop-in centre for the homeless, to acquire an X-ray machine for the institution’s dental clinic.

The state-of-the-art wall-mounted X-ray unit offers radiographic images with contrast and high definition.

Some $350,000 was provided by the CHASE Fund, with other support from sponsors and participants in the Good Samaritan 5K Health Run/Walk.

Speaking at the handover ceremony on May 16 at the Inn’s Geffrard Place address in Kingston, Health Minister, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, commended the management team of the Good Samaritan Inn for the initiative, which provides assistance, free of cost, to the 35,000 needy persons who have visited the facility.

“We have here a model institution. I admire it for its goals and objectives and the work that you have been doing. I would like to see similar objectives linked to other institutions doing similar work in other parts of the country,” he said.

Dr. Tufton said such initiatives are important, as they assist in reducing the burden on the public health system.

“If we did not get this critical support from charities like this in the private sector, we would be a lot more challenged in responding to the critical efforts that are required to keep our society focused on health and wellness,” he added.

Co-Chair of the Organising Committee for the Good Samaritan 5K, Keith Nugent, said the equipment will assist in providing comprehensive care to persons who visit the dental clinic at the centre.

“We have observed, over time, that the needs that come to the dental clinic are not just cleaning issues, but some complex dental issues. A lot of the persons who visit have never been to a dentist, so the need to do X-ray of teeth is critical in order to provide adequate care for these needy persons,” he said.

Project Manager of the CHASE Fund, Paulette Mitchell, said the initiative falls within the mandate of the organisation to help improve the public health sector.

Services provided by the dental clinic include examination, cleaning, filling and extraction.

The annual Good Samaritan 5K Health Run/Walk is a charity event to support the projects of the Good Samaritan Inn as well as other charities. The next staging of the event is scheduled for August 26. Proceeds from this year’s event will be used to purchase a dialysis machine.

The Good Samaritan Inn was established in 2007 by the East Jamaica Conference (EJC) of Seventh-day Adventists and Members of the Adventist Laypersons Services and Industries (ASI) to assist the needy and homeless by providing them with food, clothing, shelter and health services.