Adventist Good Samaritan Inn adds health center to its list of help to the ‘Needy’
Collette Roberts Risden, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America cut the ribbon to officially open the new health center of the Good Samaritan Inn, in Kingston, Jamaica, June 30, 2016. Looking on are: (L-R) Pastor Everett Brown, president of the Adventist Church in Jamaica (partly hidden), Commander John McFarlane, Acting Custos of St. Andrew, Mr. Cecil Foster, President of ASi East Jamaica Conference Chapter, Pastor Eric Nathan, president of East Jamaica and Pastor Leon Wellington, vice president of the church in Inter-America. Images by Nigel Coke
July 5, 2016 | Kingston, Jamaica | Nigel Coke/IAD
The Good Samaritan Inn (GSI), which has been serving the needs of street people for the past 12 years, opened a new health center last week at its headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica.
The health center, which will provide free maternal and dental care, including pediatric dental services to the public in parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew, was made possible by a 13th Sabbath School Offering from the Adventist World Church collected in 2014. The facility is to be built in two phases which when completed will cost approximately US$397,000 dollars.
Gavin Lowe, project manager for the center and member of Adventist-layperson’s Services and Industry (ASi) and the GSI board expressed delight at the completion of phase one of the overall health center plan.
Front entrance of the Good Samaritan building at Geffrard Place, Kingston.
“Phase two will comprise a child guidance and mental health service, which is scheduled to be completed in October of this year. There is also plans for the establishment of a skill training center, which is expected to come on stream within the next two years as part of the overall GSI plans and objectives,” Lowe added.
“The church is very much concern about the impact we have on the community,” said Pastor Israel Leito, president of the Adventist Church in Inter-America. “I can see here how the 13th Sabbath Offering has made a real impact to help bring dignity and the love of Jesus to this community.”
Anyone stepping into the center will feel the respect and dignity with which they deserve, added Pastor Leito. “We want to thank the world church for helping East Jamaica to do this project. I hope more help will be on the way so this can be a real project, reaching the people of Jamaica and being a witness for the Lord of what the love of Jesus Christ does in our hearts.”
Plans are well advanced with the Government of Jamaica through its Ministry of Health department to operate the health center by providing medical personnel and any needed prescription and over-the-counter drugs, while the facility is managed by the church.
Collette Roberts Risden, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in highlighting the importance of health care to national development, thanked the Seventh-day Adventist Church for extending care to the lives of Jamaicans in a tangible way.
“The Adventist has not only recognized some of the needs of the poor and vulnerable but has taken the approach to help in supplying those needs through the establishment of this center.”
Glenda Lesleur, nurse practitioner from the Breath of Life Ministries in California, United States, shows one of the new dental room in the health center.
The church she says is exemplifying what the Bible speaks about by being our brother’s keepers.
In recognizing the role of the church in the community and the partnership with the Government, Pastor Everett Brown, president of the Adventist Church in Jamaica said that “Over the years we have been able to forge successful partnerships with the government and NGOs in providing needed services to the wider community in which the church serves and the health center is one example of such partnerships.”
“Through the collective efforts and the generosity of the worldwide Adventist Church a dream has become a reality,” Pastor Brown emphasized. “We trust that this facility will be used to advance the mission of God, the development of Jamaica and enhance the welfare of our people, which we are ready to serve and always willing to assist in Nation building.”
GSI is a registered charity overseen by a board of directors comprising members of Corporate Jamaica and the Adventist Church. It was established in 2007 through a joint partnership of 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 and by so doing, reflect the caring Ministry of Jesus Christ.
All activities are free to the beneficiaries and are supported by donations primarily from members of the Adventist community both locally and internationally, local business entities, a number of overseas groups, the EJC Community Services department and dozens of volunteers from the Adventist Church and the wider community.