NOTE: These messages have been moved from the "Plans for the Treasure Beach Sports Park & Community Centre" thread -TBNet

Who is the BREDS nurse? How and where does one get in touch with her? What does she do? Is there a charge?

I know someone that needs some medical advice. Where can she go to see this nurse?

Is there in fact a BREDS nurse? I know there's an ambulance, but I've not heard that there's a qualified nurse on staff. Anyone know?

I imagine there are many doctors and nurses from all over who would be interested in manning a clinic in TB.

There are organisations that collect and distribute surplus medical equipment where it is needed.

There are many philanthropists and trusts that assist communities to establish health and learning centres.

Any ideas how any of these resources could be directed to TB?

I have friends in obstetrics/gynaecology, psychiatry and other fields of medicine, I'm sure some of these and others would give specialist consultations during a visit. The facilities of even a basic clinic would help making this happen.

The Breds nurse is at the breds office from 9am to 6pm mondays to fridays.She is the practice nurse for the ambulance she goes out on emergencies and also do some of the admin. work and take care of the ambulance by cleaning it each day if needs to. Persons can feel free to go to the breds office and ask her questions.She does'nt have her own transport so it would be hard for her to go home visiting. And people trust me since she starts working i can see the improvements. TBERU provide routine transportation to and from the hospital for appointments at a cost per journey.The number for the ambulance is 965-3640.

TB Girl, thank you very much for giving us information about the BREDS nurse.

I have some more questions. Does she have her own room at the BREDS office? I ask that because some people might want to be able to consult her on private matter or even have her look at some part of their body. What is the charge for her to see someone at the BREDS office? Is she a registered nurse or a practical nurse? What is her name?

When someone uses the ambulance is there now a charge? if so what is that cost?

About a month ago there was a problem getting hold of the ambulance because I think of the phones but I'm not sure if that was the exact reason. Is there now a mobile number people can call if the land line is not working because the land lines go out alot?

There are extra rooms at the breds office that i can use if anyone wants to speak to me in private. It is free to speak to me. I am a practical nurse. and my name is Nickesha strachan. When the ambulance goes out on emergencies its free. We charge for like persons who has a doctors appointments and needs to lie down and be relaxed instead of the family putting them in a car and make it uncomfortable for them.We charge depending on the journey of the appointment example to black river hospital its $4,000. I often gets complain about the telephone line not working and immediately i use my cellphone to check and i always gets through. What we are trying to do is get a backup phone that i will keep. BREDS Nurse.

can she visit someones house if their sick

BREDS Nurse, thank you for answering so many questions. We appreciate that very much.

I am concerned about the telephone not working, especially for the ambulance when it may be a matter of life or death. Would it be possible for whoever is in charge of the ambulance to have a cellphone people could call because those seem much more reliable than C&W land lines?

The landline phones were out for hours this morning. This happens all the time and no one in TB can control it. We have had instances in which the ambulance was called but no one responded. We all know it doesn't cost much to buy some cellphones and some cards. Why would the nurse have to be "trying" to get a backup phone? JUST DO IT. LIKE TODAY. Who is prepared to take responsibility if someone needs that ambulance tonight but it can't be reached?

If we say we have ambulance service, then we must have it. We cannot have MAYBE an ambulance or MAYBE a phone. I want the sports park for the kids to play, but looking at the big picture saving a life is more important than shooting hoops.

Priorities, does that mean you will be willing to pay for some cell phones and the ongoing cost of the phone cards? If so, that would be great! Just let us know your email address so we can contact you regarding this donation.

I couldn't agree with you more. JUST DO IT. LIKE TODAY.

I think we all need to take a step back and a deep breath and realize BREDS has many projects they are working on. Funding for the ambulance is totally separate than funding for the Sports Park. When grant money or donations are asked for, most times the use of those funds collected needs to be specified.

The ambulance is extremely expensive to operate and maintain. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I know there is a separate bank account set up just for the ambulance expenses. This again, is separate from all other BREDS activities. If you would like to donate directly to the ambulance fund this can be arranged.

Rebecca, I take your word that the funding for the ambulance is totally separate from the sports park. I work for a nonprofit and we must use "designated" funds for the purposes specified. For instance, if someone donates for use in a certain country, we cannot use it in a different country. However, the vast majority of our funds are UNdesignated; this means we can use them where we feel they are most needed.

Several questions:

? - Are all the funds in the non-ambulance BREDS fund designated for sports park use? If not, some of them could be used for anything BREDS deemed necessary such as ambulance expenses including cellphones and cards.

? - If I make a donation to the ambulance fund, exactly how do I do it? Is there a FASTER way than mailing a U.S. check and waiting for it to clear in Jamaica?

? - Are donations to the ambulance fund tax-deductible in the U.S.? I seem to recall from reading something on the BREDS website they are but I am not sure.

Good questions Priorities. I will try to find the answers and get back to you.

I've checked with Tanya Parchment-Brown, the Treasurer of BREDS. She said the best way to make a donation at this point is to write a check made out to BREDS, Treasure Beach Foundation and specify the money is to be used for the Ambulance Fund right on the check. If you are making a donation in JA dollars you can write on the check for deposit only to account number 300175 as this is a JA dollar account.

This is currenly the only way to make a donation.

To the best of her knowledge this would not be tax deductible for US taxes.

Another possibility is if you live here or know someone who does, you could purchase the phones and minutes and donate the actual phones to BREDS for use for the ambulance. You can add credit for minutes to the phones via internet.

Hope this helps.

I would like to find out from the BREDS Nurse if she is a certified Practical Nurse or did she only do the practical nursing course? Reason for asking is that we now have a lot of persons going around saying that they are practical nurses or registered nurse who go around treating people with no true knowledge of the task that they are doing and when you check them out they are not registered with the Ministry of Health and they have do not have any certification to show.Just to let everyone know that in Jamaica to be a registered/certified practical nurse you would firstly have to sit the exam with HEART NCTVET and then get certification either in level 1 or 2 before you can truly say that you are a practical nurse. I am not here to keep down anyone but in the world of medicine there is no place for mistakes no matter how small the task is.

Good Question "Concerned".The BREDS Nurse has her certificate in practical Nursing and she also did the HEART NCTVET exam in level 2.

Good job Concern,

I have been in nursing school for the past 3yrs. I now have 1 1/2yrs left. To my knowledge no one in TB has done that, and the treatment of the clients who happen to need ambulance services have been very poor.

What kind of schooling do you need to become a practical nurse, and how long does it take if you attend full time? There is a nursing school somewhere near Junction and I think that's where several young ladies from Treasure Beach have been going.

i know that the nurse has her certificate and so forth, however,how experienced is she in this field. i want to know this as i am a person who is often ill and if i should need the use of the ambulance i need to know that my life can be trusted in the care of someone certified AND experienced.

Dear Nurse, we are delighted you are on the staff at BREDS and hope you will be able to be of assistance even when the ambulance is not working. Could you please tell us when you got your certificate? Did you attend the school near/in Junction?

Hello Nurse, I'm glad to hear that your skills are available in TB.

I'm sure yourself and the ambulance crew try to be available at all times.

If you let us know what assistance, if any, you need to carry out your work, I believe that many would respond.

Best wishes.

I believe what the ambulance want is more money to fund it, because as i hear they have a seperate account from Breds and they give free service and have to pay for gas, insurances, plus the nurse, and ordering the parts for it take alot of cash. People i can tell you because i sit on my front step and the nurse leaves at six and if she gets a call 1 minute to six she call her drivers and away they go to help and how much of us would do that and we all wants to go home and when they pass back from the journey its very later and their faces are always smiling i must say it good team work. I wish alot of us would see the good things and try to help even by thinking positively about the nurse and the ambulance. And not only that but they are all from this little community treasure beach. Again how much of us volunteer our service to the community all we do is sit and gossip and never say what can i do to help my community. Since the ambulance came to TB things are getting better because we would have to charter people personsal transport to take us to the hospital and the ambulance is free come on now people why cant we see these thing y only the bad. Nusre i must say keep up the good work and never let what people say get you down and continue doing your work and helping us god bless you.

I would like to thank Nickesha, the BREDS nurse, for her patience with me in trying to show me various bandaging methods the other night (sometimes I am all thumbs).

Some of us volunteering for ambulance duty had asked for a refresher course on First Aid/CPR and Nickesha was a wealth of information and a great teacher staying long after work hours to help teach this course. Thanks also to Joshua Stein for organizing the course.

As a personal observation, in every dealings I've had with Nickesha she has been professional and very personable. I know I would feel great comfort if I needed the ambulance service and she was there to care for me.

Again, I feel we in this community are very blessed to have this service at all and although we need to always strive to improve on it, we also need to realize how far we have come with a totally volunteer service. Although constructive criticism is always good we also need to give credit where credit is due.

Could someone say how much it cost to run the ambulance and how much is collect from transport patient and the fun raisers so we know how much is still left to be raise.

Not saying donations are not needed, wanted and deserved, but does BREDS not have the ability to take some money from their other regular account and put it into the separate account for the ambulance?

Ambulance Account asks a good question. I think it’s wonderful Breds provides an ambulance service, and I think it’s wonderful so many people from the community (including Rebecca) are volunteering to help out by driving and giving first aid and comfort to those who use the ambulance. At the same time, if Breds has taken it upon themselves to provide this service, then they have a responsibility to keep it going as much as humanly possible. Unless there are some special rules in Jamaica, I don’t see why they could not transfer money from their big account to the ambulance account when it is needed. After all, this is the organization that says they do not plan to encounter many problems in being able to raise $2 million USD for the sports park.
I also think Breds should not have to pay for every bit. That does not seem fair. Someone said the service is free, but can’t people be asked to pay a little something if they can afford it? Maybe they don’t have the money with them in an emergency situation but they could give a little something after they get back home. This doesn’t seem like it’s asking much for a service that’s so valuable. I have also read about fundraisers where money has been raised for the ambulance fund, so that gives them something to work with even if it’s not enough. Also, why can’t Breds make it easy to give donations by accepting credit cards and Paypal. Another idea is the dollar a night program could benefit the ambulance.

I think Money Ideas has some good ideas so I hope people do not think this is another example of being negative. This sounds like constructive criticism. When no answers are provided to ideas people sit and take alot of time to suggest in an honest attempt to be helpful, then they feel their ideas are not appreciated.

Are people not expected to or asked to contribute anything if they have used the ambulance? If that's the case it doesn't seem correct.

An NGO (nonprofit organization) can have one bank account or multiple accounts. Unless money is in a designated account, it can be used for something else.

Here's a more simple explanation. If the ambulance account is specifically for the ambulance, money could not be used for another purpose - no matter how much it is needed. If money is in a general account it is able to be used for any purposes judged appropriate by the organization. Therefore, money in the Breds regular (general) account could certainly be used for the ambulance; however; money in the ambulance account could not be used for computers, the sports park, or any other non-ambulance purpose.