The Alpha Dental Clinic on South Camp Road in Kingston Jamaica is now able to treat an average of 300 students monthly, up from 150, thanks to last week’s donation by the Guardian Group Foundation of a new dental operating chair.
Valued at $2.85M the dental operating chair, complete with peripherals and vital attachments is a significant asset to the clinic’s program of providing quality dental health care not only to students at the five educational institutions based at the Alpha campus, but to the extended Alpha community.
In making the presentation, Nadine Pottinger, Guardian Life’s Assistant Vice President, Employee Benefits Division Sales emphasized that it is the clinic’s focus on the promotion of preventive health care that helped to seal Guardian’s participation in this social partnership. “It is one of our main pillars of focus and we were particularly impressed by the sustained delivery of a high standard of oral health care, even continuously through the COVID-19 pandemic.”
For 25 years the Alpha Dental Clinic has operated in a social partnership with the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) to provide access to dental support services to the approximately 4000 students on Alpha’s South Camp Road campus. Under this agreement the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA) of the MOHW provides the technical staff including a supervising dentist.
The incumbent, Dr. Kimberley Freeman who was on hand to receive and test the equipment expressed her gratitude for the timely investment in the facility. “It was what we requested and more. This will allow my team and I, with the aid of the best available technology to escalate treatment and extend our heartfelt care.”
The dental clinic is an initiative of the Sisters of Mercy Jamaica, who have already mobilized and invested more than J$16M to refurbish and upgrade the facility, boosted by contributions in cash and kind from the National Health Fund and a US-based partner organization.
Expressing appreciation for the donation Sister Susan Frazer RSM of the Sisters of Mercy stressed that the potential social impact is incalculable. “Our enhanced ability to serve the extended Alpha family including our neighbors will leave a lasting impact on the lives of the children and their families, not only in their dental health but in their overall integration into the education system, and their levels of performance in life.”
A registered charitable organization under the Charities Act of Jamaica (2013), the Sisters of Mercy have been garnering resources to serve marginalized communities in Jamaica since 1880.
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