Red Cross to Provide Support for Traumatised Persons

President of the Jamaica Red Cross, Dr. Jaslin Salmon, has said that the organisation would be providing psycho-social support for residents of Tivoli Gardens, who have been traumatised by the unrest in the area.
“We visited the Tivoli area, the main area of operation on Tuesday (May 26), and while there, we saw needs that we are at present meeting. We saw people, who were terribly traumatised and so we have a psycho-social support unit that is at this moment preparing to provide psycho-social support for the people in the community,” he said during a press conference held at the Hilton Kingston Hotel today (May 27).
Dr. Salmon said the organisation has begun to provide food for the residents. “We have a team of people, who are now providing the community of Tivoli with 1,000 packages of food supplies and those supplies can feed five persons for seven days,” he informed.
In terms of medical needs, he informed that a team of four doctors is in the community. “They are looking at people, who have chronic illnesses and who are in need of medication. We have taken medication in to them, we got them filled and at the moment, about three people are being supplied with medication. Others told us that they had their medication and had ample supplies for the time being,” he said.
The Jamaica Red Cross President said he is satisfied that the police “at that moment when we looked at the detention camp,” were attempting to help people to re-connect with their families.
He told the press that the Jamaica Red Cross is collaborating with the security forces in the detention centres, to see to the welfare of the detainees, and working with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) to ensure that supplies get to persons.
He informed that a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross would be in the island tomorrow to assist with that process.
He informed that the organisation is also involved in the transfer of detainees to the National Arena and through the United Way of Jamaica, would help to provide meals for those persons.
In the meantime, Dr. Salmon said a team of security officers is being prepared to escort members of the organisation into Denham Town to help those in need of medical care.
“We know that there are a number of people there, who have chronic illnesses, people who need dialysis, people, who have diabetes and need some help…and we are going to be provided with security to be able to go in there and take out those people, who need to be taken out and taken to the hospital for medical care,” he said.