Help for Jamaican Pre-Teen with Heart Condition

Principal of the Staceyville All-Age School in Sandy River, Clarendon Pamela Mapp thinks that nine-year old Sherice Douglas is a gifted student and that the young girl’s congestive heart condition stands in her way of academic excellence and her dream of making her family proud.

If all goes well, little Sherice may yet get the best gift of her young life by the time Christmas comes around.

Having adopted the Clarendon school as part of its community outreach initiative, the newly formed Jamaica Civic Association of New York (JACANY) is currently making plans to have Sherice and her mother flown to New Jersey in the United States next month. There, Sherice will undergo surgery to correct the heart condition which has left her chest badly deformed.

Senior Executive member of JACANY, Gloria Williams informs that the all expense paid operation will be done by a team of doctors at the Deborah Heart and Lung Hospital in New Jersey, thanks to a partnership with the Children of the World Foundation, Air Jamaica Limited, and Riversea Contracting Inc., which is owned by Liddon Wisdom, a charter member of JACANY.

“These corporations have given their wholehearted support to this Association and this venture and we are extremely grateful for all their help. It has given the Association a great start and a chance to fulfill one of our core objective service to humanity,” noted Clifford Hinds, Founder and Board Chairman of JACANY.

“The idea and intent of JACANY is to get Sherice well, first and over the long haul, to see her through college. We are a multi-faceted group and this is part of what we bring to the growing landscape of community organizations,” noted Ms. Williams, project Chair and a Board (Charter) member of JACANY, which had its official launch at a dinner ceremony in summer this year.

The organization vows to be different in the way it approaches community issues and concerns. It has already sent computers, books and other school supplies to the Clarendon institution for the benefit of the more than 350 students and 14 staff members. “The hope now is for a nice Christmas gift for Sherice, her family and the school community,” noted Ms. Williams.

Contact JIS New York for more details at the following email address: [email protected]