The CVMMT "B" Team consisted of Drs. Bill Blackman, Jay and Kappa Meadows, Remo Lotano and Clifford Phillips, Eleanor Garrett (Pediatric Nurse Practioner), Kristin Bibee (medical student), nurses Emily Waldman, Rena Trent, Kathy Baker, Vicky Holt and Donna Nickell, and Vision Clinic assistants Valerie Burruss and Robin Blackman. Our team worked at Saturday's Health Fair at Port Morant School, and subsequent clinics at Yallahs Methodist Church, Rowlandsfield Primary School, Seaforth Methodist Church, and Golden Shores (where we stay during our visit to Jamaica). It was a very busy week for all. Medical providers treated ailments such as hypertension, diabetes, allergies, asthma, anemia, arthritis, back pain, and various forms of heart disease. Dr. Kappa Meadows treated many dermatologic conditions and even removed a facial cyst at one clinic. The Vision Clinic saw 433 patients during the week, many with cataracts and/or glaucoma. Many patients were fitted with prescription glasses and/or readers and all Vision Clinic patients received sunglasses. Dr. Lotano is working to obtain drops for glaucoma patients, as none of those medications made it to Jamaica. On Friday, a small group made up of Bill Blackman, Jay and Kappa Meadows, Dick Morris, Emily Waldman, Kristin Bibee, Rev. Dick Daily, Megan Mann and Joyce McFarlane (a Jamaican assistant) headed up the mountain to hold a clinic in the isolated village of Somerset. They had to hike in almost 2 miles with their supplies (after a long and bumpy bus ride), and saw over 80 patients.
We arrived home exhausted but uplifted, and ever grateful for safe travel and another successful trip to St. Thomas Parish!

The "A" Team Weekly Report

The A team included Dr. Richard Giles, Dr. Richard Morris. Laura Mann, FNP, Gaylene Doyle, RN, Vickie Moore, FNP, Felissa Burford, RN and one of our new members, Melissa Sullivan,RN.
The dental team, which consisted of Diane Sullivan, dental assistant, Gary Sullivan, dental assistant, and Jennifer Carson, dental assistant, went with us to each clinc site.

Our medical team saw 390 patients over four days and the dental team saw 156 patients. We filled 758 prescriptions through out the week. The A Team went to Fairhaven, Golden Grove, Cedar Valley and Johns Town. Each clinic was in a different area of St. Thomas Parish. On Monday we traveled west, almost to Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. Tuesday we went east about 45 minutes to the village of Golden Grove, which was a new clinic site for us. Wednesday we ventured about an hour and a half up into the mountains near "coffee country" and on Thursday we only had to go about 5 minutes from our hotel.

We loved the people in each clinic we held and look forward to returning to Jamaica again next Spring.

Update by team C... see our pictures

Team C consisted of Ellen and Tom Nygaard, Susan Canny, Pat Pletke, Monica Dillard, Gwen Naples and Megan Mann.

We went to 4 sites for our clinics; Johnson Mountain all Age School ( in the Blue Mountains with a beautiful ocean and valley view),  Barking Lodge Primary School, Spring Garden Primary School, and Bath Health Clinic.  

In these primary care clinics, we saw children and adults.  We treated hypertension, diabetes, anemia, skin disorders, and we referred several newly diagnosed congenital heart abnormalities and valvular disorders.  We also treated an acute stroke, a newly diagnosed seizure event, and elderly gentleman with loss of consciousness.  Because there were no ambulances or taxis available, we gently folded the gentleman into the back seat of our church volunteers car and carried him home.  The man who was so helpful in carrying the patient into his house was later evaluated by Dr Pat and found to have severe aortic stenosis and atrial fibrillation.  

Our team saw a total of 335 patients and filled 844 prescriptions.  We were the smallest team but we won the "the Jamaican Index" ( our friendly CVMMT competition) as the most productive team for the week. :)

Our team worked hard, had much fun, and worked together as if we had been together for years.  

We have all seen the effects of poverty on the Jamaican's health.  We know we cannot solve all problems in a week but we hope to have an impact on the lives of those we were able to see.  And we treasure the relationships we have developed with the patients, church people, and other volunteers .

CVMMT Retruns Home

The majority of the CVMMT team members returned home to Lynchburg last night at 9:45pm after an exhausting day that started at 4:00am (US time). We were all "happy" to be home again. We had an outstanding week in St. Thomas, Jamaica, where we held a health fair and 10 medical clinics, including 1 where some of our team members hiked 45 minutes up into the mountains to see patients. We also visited the hospital, nursing school and a local primary school.

We were able to provide medical, vision and dental care to 2027 patients during the week.

We appologise for not being able to post a message and pictures on a daily basis, but every evening at approximately 6:15 our internet service would go down. Our days started very early and rarely were we able to set down to try to get online before 5:30 or 6:00 in the evening.

Each of our 3 teams will post a review with a slideshow this week so please come back to our site this week and enjoy an overview of the work our team did in Jamaica this past week.

Thanks to all our friends and family who supported us with their thoughts and prayers this week! We love you and are gald to be back home with you.

Team Update: Health Fair, Sunday services

Greeting from beautiful sunny Jamaica!

After resting well last evening we all had a rousing devotion before breakfast from Rev. Dick Daily - we thought he was preaching at Coke this AM, but was afraid his time would be cut short so he started with the team!

The service at Coke Methodist in Morant Bay was very nice and all the local people were very happy to have us worship with them. We were entertained with numerous songs and a special song by a 3 year old little girl. It was a real treat! After church they held a reception for us before we departed back to the hotel.

The team members spent some much needed R & R before lunch swimming and lying in the sun. The water was great - wish you all could be here with us. Gary, Jay, and Kappa managed to hitch a ride out to a reef with some local fisherman (not pirates); they had a great time snorkeling, and even saw an old shipwreck in Port Morant.

After lunch we spent time packing our clinic supplies and medications to start our week off right.

Please continue to bless us with your thoughts and prayers this week as we go out into the different communities to hold our clinics.

Port Morant Health Fair Pics