Philadelphia Rotarians’ response to urgent medical needs in Jamaica a huge success
By Jay Pennie
What began as Rotary Club of Philadelphia member Marva Haye’s annual trip to visit friends and relatives back in Jamaica, ended up becoming a major drive that delivered a 40-ft. trailer loaded with more than $30,000 worth of medical supplies to Savanna-La-Mar General Public Hospital.
While planning her trip to Jamaica back in January and in the midst of selling her house and moving, Haye initially started requesting supplies from members of the Rotary Club of Philadelphia. Then she got an idea to contact some of the Philadelphia area hospitals to see if they would be willing to help.
After researching online and making numerous phone calls she decided to contact Main Line Health System’s President & CEO John J. Lynch III. Main Line Health is not-for-profit health system serving Philadelphia and its western suburbs and operates four acute care hospitals—Lankenau Medical Center, Bryn Mawr Hospital, Paoli Hospital and Riddle Hospital. To her great surprise, Lynch agreed to help in a BIG way providing everything from medical-grade masks and gloves to needles and surgical instruments.
“I first became familiar with the dire situation after my elderly parents retired to Jamaica and had to seek emergency medical attention due to their different illnesses,” said Haye. “I soon realized that the hospital where I used to volunteer as teenager before I immigrated to Philadelphia was no longer the same!”
Marva Haye, receiving supplies during the Medical Impact Project, 2016. Marva is a member of the Rotary Club of Philadelphia and serves as Chair of the Program Committee.
According to Haye, although there are many hospitals, most Jamaicans cannot afford the private hospitals and costs associated with the necessary medical attention they urgently require. Public hospitals are not well supported and have lost staffing, mainly doctors and nurses, due to lack of resources. “People are literally dying outside of the public hospitals waiting for treatment for COVID-19 or other serious illnesses,” said Haye. “I had to do something to help.”
Haye is no stranger to helping to bring medical supplies to Jamaica. Back in 2016, she worked with The World Is Our Neighborhood (TWION), an organization who provided a 40-foot container of much needed equipment like wheelchairs and stretchers to the same hospital. Since then she continues to collect and ship bedsheets, towels, washcloths, and bandages on her own. The COVID Pandemic has compounded an already bad situation.
This drive however was not without its difficulties. There were numerous delays and setbacks due to complicated COVID travel restrictions and the difficulties dealing with customs officials in Jamaica. The delivery to the hospital finally occurred on April 28. But Haye oversaw the entire process step by step to ensure that the supplies were properly received by the hospital in need. Members of the Rotary Club of Savanna-La-Mar unloaded the truck of supplies into the hospital.
Shortly after announcing the drive at one of the Club’s virtual meetings, members Joe and Joan Batory, Cassandra Bolding, Dr. Jeff Cabot, Meghan Miller, Jason Walker, and others from the Philadelphia community donated masks, gloves, aprons and other assorted medical supplies. Luiz dAvila, President, Rotary Club Campinas-Norte, state of São Paulo, Brazil also shipped medical supplies for the cause despite the pandemic raging then in his own country. dAvila had been joining the club’s virtial meetings periodically to connect with fellow Rotarians in the U.S. and improve his English.
“I am so humbled and grateful for everyone’s help to make this drive so successful,” said Haye. “It should make everyone feel good in your heart to know that you have done a good deed to help people in need.”
Marva Haye is a member of the Rotary Club of Philadelphia and serves as Chair of the Program Committee.
*****This is a follow up to the article posted on January 18, 2021. See it here.