Founder of JAHJAH Foundation Honoured

Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Jamaicans Abroad Helping Jamaicans At Home (JAHJAH) Foundation, Dr. Trevor Dixon, was honoured for his philanthropic work in Jamaica on February 22 in Queens, New York.

Dr. Dixon, a Jamaican medical doctor who resides in the United States, received the Philanthropist of the Year Award at the 18th annual Young Gifted & Black (YGB) Entrepreneurial Awards for “the great work” he has been doing via the JAHJAH Foundation.

The YGB Entrepreneurial Awards began in 2006 and is aimed at bringing recognition to everyday individuals who have been making a difference in the lives of people, leaving legacies to which others can aspire.

Thanking the YGB organisation for the award, Dr. Dixon said he was accepting on behalf of “all the volunteers, sponsors, donors, and supporters” of the JAHJAH Foundation and its long-term and continued focus on improving Jamaica’s public healthcare system.

“Our mission is for the improvement of the quality of life of Jamaicans living on the island through health and education. We share knowledge and ideas with the sole purpose of uplifting our people and restoring Jamaica back to the forefront as home sweet home,” he told JIS News.

“JAHJAH Foundation was created to help people whose problems and life challenges cut across a variety of needs, including Basic Living, Medical & Health and Extraordinary Experiences,” he added.

Dr. Dixon said the JAHJAH Foundation engages the Jamaican Diaspora, and friends of Jamaica all around the world, to assist with the development of Jamaica, adding that “we concentrate our philanthropic efforts” in the areas of health, social and human services, and education through partnerships with Jamaica’s public hospitals, schools and communities.

He said that it can be credibly argued that there are more people of Jamaican origin living outside of Jamaica than those living in Jamaica, noting that “some of our brightest minds leave the island, usually for economic reasons”.

He noted that each year, JAHJAH conducts mission trips to Jamaica, carrying out several projects across the island with some 25 overseas volunteers along with many persons locally.

The projects, Dr. Dixon said, range from “conducting annual conferences and workshops” where volunteers who have been trained in best practices overseas share information and technology with their local counterparts.

Other projects, the CEO said, include building of infrastructure, such as a 10- room urgent-care centre in Ulster Spring, Trelawny; providing a 40 ft. container space and donating ultrasound machines to set up a SonoCare Unit at the Savanna-la-Mar Public

General Hospital in Westmoreland; renovating four rooms in the Accident and Emergency area at the Kingston Public Hospital, and creating a Wellness Centre and sickbay for the Hanbury Children’s Home in Christiana, Manchester.

“We enable our partners and supporters to make a positive difference in people’s lives by assisting public hospitals and health centres in Jamaica that are in need. Our medical mission teams invariably return home feeling that they received more than they gave,” Dr. Dixon added.

JAHJAH has been involved in Jamaica since 2007. In 2011, the Foundation was officially registered as non-profit and has since received 5013c (a charitable organisation which is qualified for tax exemption) status.