AdventHealth teams provide meals, essential supplies to support hurricane-affected families in Jamaica

On Oct. 28, Hurricane Melissa, a devastating Category 5 storm, made landfall in Jamaica, causing significant damage across the country and in the Caribbean.

In Jamaica, communities faced forced hospital evacuations, prolonged power outages, the temporary closure of Kingston Freeport Terminal and delays across Caribbean shipping channels.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness, a government office overseeing Jamaica’s public health system, reported damage to 11 hospitals and 43 health facilities.

Field hospitals and international emergency medical support organizations stepped in to address care needs while hospital operations slowly recovered.

Following the devastation left behind by the storm, AdventHealth team members took immediate action to support those affected, including packing meals, donating supplies and providing monetary donations to meet the urgent needs of families and care providers across Jamaica.

Thousands of meals prepared

In Winter Garden and Celebration, Florida, 300 team members came together to pack over 66,000 meals for residents in Jamaica.

“It took a lot to hold back the tears of so many emotions,” said Deana Bienvenue, a registered nurse at AdventHealth Celebration. “Joy, grief and awe of how God can bring His people together to help communities in times of hardship. What an honor to serve the Lord in this way!”

Additionally, AdventHealth partnered with the Florida Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to ship even more meals packaged in food packing events coordinated through No Child Hungry, a feeding program of My Neighbors Children, Inc. At Forest Lake Academy, just over 100,000 meals were packed and another 100,000 came from Greater Miami Adventist Academy.

Critical supplies delivered

In partnership with its Global Missions team, the AdventHealth Supply Chain and Business Services team helped coordinate the donation of more than 40 pallets of mission-critical supplies from the Consolidated Service Center.

The shipments included bottled water, batteries, personal protective equipment, pillows, first aid and wound care supplies, portable pulse oximeters and glucometers.

All the donated supplies were sent to the Good Samaritan Inn, a non-profit organization operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica, which works with the government on community service projects and handled the importation of the supplies into the country.

Distribution of both the donated meals and supplies to the areas with the most need was handled in partnership with ADRA Jamaica. To date, six 40-foot containers of medical supplies and meals have been shipped to Jamaica. In total, more than 500,000 meals have been shipped to Jamaica.

“We’ve been working with My Neighbors Children since the earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010, and we have continued working with them to support our communities and to respond to other natural disasters,” said Monty Jacobs, executive director of AdventHealth Global Missions. “Thanks to our ongoing partnership, we were able to quickly work together with them to set up the meal-packing events. What would’ve been just 20,000 meals out of Winter Garden and Celebration has really multiplied, adding up to over half a million meals that have now been shipped to Jamaica.”

Extending our reach through partnerships

AdventHealth Global Missions has partnered with Andrews Memorial Hospital in Jamaica for more than 30 years and has supported Northern Caribbean University for several years.

When Hurricane Melissa shifted towards Jamaica, the Global Missions team mobilized to support the hospital. While the storm ultimately moved away from the hospital, sparing it from damage, Northern Caribbean University sustained significant damage.

Andrews Memorial Hospital has served as a connection point for other hospitals which experienced damage from the storm. Through the partnerships with the hospital and ADRA Jamaica, AdventHealth was able to send further support to those damaged hospitals and their communities as they work to recover from the storm.

“Our mission of Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ is something we live out every day in our facilities and around the world through our partnerships,” said Audrey Gregory, PhD, SEVP and CEO for AdventHealth’s Multi-Division Delivery Network and executive sponsor of the partnership between AdventHealth and Andrews Memorial Hospital. “It is an honor to be able to collaborate with our partners to bring support to the communities who need it most, especially following the disastrous after-effects of a hurricane.”

AdventHealth team members also donated monetary funds to support relief efforts, resulting in a total of nearly $97,000 to date.