More Jamaican Schools To Receive Defibrillators This Friday!

Team Jamaica Bickle (TJB) will present another 15 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) as part of its “Defibrillator to Schools Program,” in a ceremony set to take place on Friday November 15 (9:00am-2:00pm) at the JAMPRO Auditorium, 18 Trafalgar Road, Kingston 10. Thirteen (13) schools; the National Stadium and The University of the West Indies (UWI) Sports Department will be presented with units.

The High Schools among the recipients set to receive units are: Annotto Bay, Claude McKay, Foga, Glengoffe, Glenmuir, Jose Marti, Holmwood Technical, Holy Childhood Holy Trinity, Kellits, Ocho Rios, Robert Lightbourne, and William Knibb.

The Presentation Ceremony is dedicated to the memory of long-time TJB volunteer Nicole McFarlane who regrettably passed away recently.

A press conference to include the Dominic James Foundation will take place at 9:30am. The Foundation will have as part of its mandate, oversight of the recipient schools and organizations.

Specially invited guests are Fredrick Dacres, Commonwealth Discus Champion and 2019 World Championship Silver Medalist and Rushell Clayton, 2019 World Championship Bronze Medalist in the 400M Hurdles. Both will stand in support of Jamaica’s long distance runner Kemoy Campbell who collapsed at a track meet at the Millrose Games in February of this year and whose emergency treatment included the use of an AED machine.  

Nurses, Sharon Thompson and Delores McGregor from the Diaspora Healthcare Sector will conduct the training sessions.

Since the start of the program in 2014, over 70 schools have received units and more that 250 staff trained. Twenty (20) units were presented earlier this year to schools in Western Jamaica. 

The Jamaica National Foundation has partnered with the organization for this round of the presentations, donating five of the 15 units. “The development of sports has always been a major area of focus for The Jamaica National Group and, therefore, our support for Team Jamaica Bickle’s efforts to equip our schools with defibrillators is only natural. The nature of the programme demonstrates that Team Jamaica Bickle is not merely ‘doing good’, but that it is carefully thinking about the needs of our young athletes” said Onyka Barrett Scott General Manager, JN Foundation. “We believe these efforts will go a far way in assisting schools to manage emergencies on the field or on the track, and to provide our athletes with a high degree of assurance that we have their best interest at heart.”

Other sponsors of units are Dr. Wilbert Warren, Philadelphia, Claudia Deleon, Island Taste Restaurant, New York and Ann Landel and Family. JAMPRO is donating the meeting space.

Please visit www.teamjamaicabickle.org or call 718.523.2861 for more information.

About Team Jamaica Bickle

Team Jamaica Bickle, Inc. (TJB) is a not-for-profit corporation based in New York State. The organization was formed in 1994 and was later designated a 501(c)(3) organization. TJB was founded by the current CEO Irwine G. Clare Snr. The affiliated TJB-Philadelphia Organizing Committee was simultaneously formed. TJB’s mission is embodied in the motto, ‘Our Athletes, Our Ambassadors’. Team Jamaica Bickle, Inc. has supported athletes and athletic programs for the past 25 years. Currently, TJB services extend to a delegation of  athletes, coaches and volunteers from Jamaica, other Caribbean countries(which includes Trinidad and Tobago and St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Guyana), as well as from the USA. In 1999, Team Jamaica Bickle became the first Jamaican organization to be a participating sponsor at the Penn Relays. As a result, the Jamaican flag became the first foreign-nation’s flag to be flown at the Penn Relays, a distinction unmatched. Over the years, TJB has received several proclamations and awards from numerous local and national entities.