As many of you know the new ambulance Treasure Beach had received just last year was involved in an accident on January 21. Unfortunately, it cannot be repaired so BREDS is in the process of replacing it. After the insurance settlement the estimated cost to purchase and ship down another ambulance is US$15,000. They are still in negotiations with the insurance brokers and have not agreed on a settlement yet but the community can't wait for such an important piece of life saving equipment.

Therefore BREDS has begun an aggressive campaign to raise funds to replace and run the Treasure Beach Rescue Unit (TBRU). On Saturday, March 30, The Greater Treasure Beach Association (including BREDS, The Treasure Beach Citizens Alert Group, and The Treasure Beach Women's Group) will hold an Easter Festival at the Sports Park. For details see the flyer below. All proceeds from this festival will go towards the purchase of a new ambulance. This is a great start and we encourage the entire community to come out and support this festival.

However, this is just a start. We, as a community, need to come together and support this effort full force. This ambulance benefits so many and we never know when the day may come where it will save the life of one of our family members, friend, or ourselves. Let us all join together and prove why we are the Best Community in Jamaica by supporting the effort to bring a new ambulance to Treasure Beach.

TB.Net is doing our part by hosting an online giving campaign during the month of April to supplement The Greater Treasure Beach Association's efforts. To start it off, we are donating US$500 in matching funds we collect from our web visitors via Paypal link below. Our goal is to raise one-third of the funds needed via our site making our target US$5000. Please help us help our community become a safer and healthier place to live, visit, and enjoy.

You can make a difference and donate via Paypal.
If you don't have a Paypal account, you can use a credit card. Look for the "Don't have a PayPal account?" text on the page.

All proceeds from this campaign will go towards the purchase of a new ambulance for the residents and visitor of Treasure Beach, Jamaica.

Everyone from Treasure and their sibblings abroad, Let us all try and donate $50 to this cause. We would have the money raised in a couple weeks. This is a challenge to all.

Great idea "Treasure Beach"! The challenge is on!

Thanks to Sylvie for being the first donor.

Rebecca can we send money to a family member in Treasure Beach to be given to the Breds Association?.

Thanks for Peter for his contribution!

i am just wondering how far insurance can go not to pay for an ambulance?!it is really ridicules what big insurers do with us??? and nobody can help?
pl. like to know the name of the insurance-a firm i will never take.Marblue will put a share into the account -for sure but still not even NCB can help in this insurance matter?

We have raised a total of US$600 of our US$5000 goal so far.

-TBNet

Have you used the ambulance service in the past?

Would you kindly post a note here to let us know how important it was to you when you needed it most. And what might have happened if it had not been available?

-TBNet

To yard, you sure can!

The Easter Festival fundraiser was held on Saturday and sure came with some challenges. There were two funerals and a wedding being held in the community the same day, the skies were heavily overcast with spots of rain here and there, and an all island power outage starting at 2:30 and lasting until about 7:30 Saturday night. This power outage stopped the music, cotton candy machine and several of the rides for the kiddies.

But in spite of it all the community came out to support this event! The final figures are not in as they are still waiting on some advance ticket sales and expenses. We would like to say a great big thank you to the Greater Treasure Beach Association for all your efforts put into this day.

To see photos of the day you can check in the Photo Gallery or click here.

Just remember, for those of you who were not able to attend the Easter Festival you can still donate here via Paypal.

Let us all come together and bring the new ambulance home!

Pics aren't showing.................get error message.

Try this link, Kay.
http://treasurebeach.net/guide/pg/gallery/main.cfm?D=949

Or this one:
http://treasurebeach.net/guide/pg/frame.cfm

Thanks for Fedel and Suzanne for their donations.

Our total is now at US$800 out of $5000. We've come a long way in a week but have more to go.

Please help us help our community become a safer and healthier place to live, visit, and enjoy.

You can make a difference and donate via Paypal.
If you don't have a Paypal account, you can use a credit card. Look for the "Don't have a PayPal account?" text on the page.

All proceeds from this campaign will go towards the purchase of a new ambulance for the residents and visitors of Treasure Beach, Jamaica.

Thanks to the Christian Dental Society (the dentists who have the clinic in Hopewell and provide free dental clinics several times a year) for their generous donation!

We've passed our mini-goal of matching US$500 in donations and have a current total of US$1200. This puts us almost 25% of the way to our big goal of raising US$5000 in all during the month of April.

You can make a difference and donate via Paypal.
If you don't have a Paypal account, you can use a credit card. Look for the "Don't have a PayPal account?" text on the page.

All proceeds from this campaign will go towards the purchase of a new ambulance for the residents and visitors of Treasure Beach, Jamaica.

-TBNet

If you have used the Treasure Beach ambulance, or know someone who has, would you kindly post a note here explaining how it helped and what would have happened if it had not been there? We'd like to get real stories of how this service has helped individuals and the community as a whole.

-TBNet

Thanks to Martha and Renardo for their donations. Total is now up to $1310.

-TBNet

I'll answer my own question above with a story of being in Jamaica and not having an ambulance service when it was needed.

Several years ago my then girlfriend took a nasty fall and severely broke her wrist. This was in Lucea, on the west side of the island, and we had to make our own way to the hospital. We got a taxi to drive us to Montego Bay, a drive which seemed to take forever that day.

She was in agony the whole way and of course the driver had no special first aid training and we had no access to pain killers. The road was bumpy, the driver was driving like a taxi driver does (fast and wild), and it was just a terrible, terrible situation.

This is why I did not hesitate when asked to donate for a new ambulance in Treasure Beach. I hope to never need it, but if I or my loved ones ever do it will be worth every penny.

PS: this was the same weekend as the island-wide gas riots, but that's a whole 'nother story.

-Eric
TBNet

The triathlon was this weekend and due to no ambulance being available they had to rig up a minibus as a temporary ambulance. Of course, the bus was not a good replacement but they had to make due.

Let's keep the donations coming in so we can replace the much needed ambulance to this community!

Thank you to Silvan James, Kevin Mills, Kenny Mills, Omar Ebanks, Nickell Hill, Debbian James-Mills and Rebecca Wiersma all of Treasure Tours for coming together and donating $200 US for the ambulance fund!

Together we can make this happen!

Thank you to Sharon and Nicholas Feanny, owners of Shakti Home, for their donation!

And thanks to Ken and Gimbya Lim for their donation too. Ken and I were in the same Peace Corps group waaaaay back when so I'd like to ask any other RPCVs reading this to consider a donation as well.

You can make a difference and donate via Paypal.
If you don't have a Paypal account, you can use a credit card. Look for the "Don't have a PayPal account?" text on the page.

All proceeds from this campaign will go towards the purchase of a new ambulance for the residents and visitor of Treasure Beach, Jamaica.

-TBNet
(Eric)

Thanks to Ashley for her kind donation!

We're getting closer to our goal!

-TBNet

Thanks to Sarah for her recent contribution.

With everyone together and our matching funds, we have a total of $2710 the ambulance.

You can help us reach our goal for this community service donate via Paypal
If you don't have a Paypal account, you can use a credit card. Look for the "Don't have a PayPal account?" text on the page.

-TBNet

Thanks to Don and Brad of Villa Hikaru for their contribution!

-TBNet

The ambulance is out of service.. so what do we use to transport anyone that needs an ambulance in the community? I have already donated.

We forgot to mention that Peter, an early donor to the fund, is with Rainbow Tree and Rainbow Point properties.

Our apologies for the oversight!

-TBNet

Thanks to Sparkling Waters Villa for their contribution.

-TBNet

Last evening there was an accident right in front of where I live involving a motorcycle and a car. Two things came to my realization very quickly when I went over there.

1. The first aid training that many in the community received and continue to receive is helping out each and every day. Persons who were injured received immediate first aid due to persons coming on the scene who had received the training. Advice was given on how to move the injured to prevent further injury, questions were asked of the injured, etc.

2. We really need to continue to push to get this ambulance replaced. This will benefit everyone in this community whether directly or indirectly, visitor or resident. So please, please donate whether $20 JA, $20 US, $20 Euro, whatever, we need your donations.

We've received a total of $3,190 US so we are still short of goal by $1,810 US. Remember, "One one coco full basket."

As for the persons involved in the accident I've just heard one person is still being tested for possible injuries, one persons sustained minor injuries and one person had no injuries.

We've passed US$3000 and now have a total of US$3190!

Our goal is US$5000 so we're over 60% of the way there.

You can help us reach this goal for this community service donate via Paypal
If you don't have a Paypal account, you can use a credit card. Look for the "Don't have a PayPal account?" text on the page.

-TBNet

To answer your question Pedro, either family friends or kind strangers are transporting persons in their cars, etc. Not the best of circumstances, especially if they should be laying flat or in need of immediate care. And the persons transporting them are usually driving fast to the hospital blowing their horn and using their 4 way flashers which could cause another accident.

Thanks for Thomas Collins for his kind donation.

-TBNet

Thanks to Judy Hanley of Doubloon Villa for her donation.

We're up to US$3340, making it two thirds of the way to our goal US$5000. Thanks to all who've helped!

You can help us reach this goal for this community service donate via Paypal
If you don't have a Paypal account, you can use a credit card. Look for the "Don't have a PayPal account?" text on the page.

All proceeds go towards the Treasure Beach Ambulance Fund.

-TBNet

It'd been nearly a month since the last update about the ambulance fund.

How are we as a community doing to replace the ambulance?

Has the insurance matter from the accident been settled?

How close are we to raising the amount of money needed, and what is the expected date for having a new ambulance operational?

Thanks to Van Zwisohn for a generous contribution.

TB.Net would like to sincerely thank all who have contributed to raising funds to bring down the new ambulance to Treasure Beach. Thanks to all who participated we (Eric and Rebecca) were able to hand a check made out to BREDS and designated for the ambulance fund to Dennis Abrahams, one of the directors of BREDS, for $3,340 US last week. Again, sincerest thank you to each donor for having the dedication to bring back an ambulance to this wonderful community.

Very wonderful TB.net was able to raise so much money, even including a substantial amount of your own.

I also know that many, many residents donated cash in addition to what you raised.

And, I presume BREDS has also been raising funds on their own.

Could you please post an update about the timing of obtaining another much-needed ambulance for the community?

I'm very happy to see this picture and I wish to congratulate very much the good team who works on this "big deal". We know that great things take time and even more time in jamaica !... From all my heart I'm very proud of you Rebecca, Eric and Mr Dennis Abrahams. Also I have a very sweet thoughts to all of the donors.

We've asked BREDS for more information on the ambulance plans and will post here when we know more.

-TBNet

I understand that "great things take time."

I also agree with what TB.net said on March 29 about the importance of this ambulance to the community: "...the community can't wait for such an important piece of life saving equipment." TB.net went on to say, "We, as a community, need to come together and support this effort full force. This ambulance benefits so many and we never know when the day may come where it will save the life of one of our family members, friend, or ourselves. Let us all join together and prove why we are the Best Community in Jamaica by supporting the effort to bring a new ambulance to Treasure Beach."

The fundraising has been supported by TB.net, accommodations owners, businesses, and residents.

We need this ambulance very much and look forward to a positive and speedy report from BREDS.

The directors of Breds are extremely grateful to persons who contributed towards raising US$3,340.00 through Treasurebeach.net The amount that we will receive from the insurance company will be J$2,600,000 (approx US$26,000). The amount for a new ambulance is US$46,000 which means a shortfall of US$16,666 The two challenges we are faced with are how to make up this shortfall, and also how to cover annual running cost of salaries, gas, insurance, maintenance of approx US$18,000 per year. We look forward to feedback on how as a community we can solve this challenge. Jason Henzell

How much was raised toward the ambulance at the March 30th event? Clearly, it wouldn't have been enough to make up for the shortfall, but it must have made a difference; a lot of people from the community turned out and contributed as much as they could.

We all know that having an ambulance is an excellent thing for Treasure Beach.

I have no way to know if $46,000(USD) is a reasonable amount to purchase a new ambulance, but I will presume it is. I also do not know if $18,000 a year is a reasonable amount to cover the annual running cost of the ambulance once it is purchased, though I believe we are entitled to know a complete breakdown of that amount since we as a community are now being asked to pay for this on an ongoing basis--and we all know costs never go down and will probably increase.

At the same time, we were told that we would need to raise $15,000 (not $20,000) to purchase the vehicle. (Did this amount even cover costs to transport it to Treasure Beach?)

We were never told about the annual operating costs--and that the community would be expected to cover these costs year after year after year.

If we had known all the facts before we were asked to contribute money, perhaps we might have come up with another plan. Perhaps we would even have decided, "As wonderful as an ambulance is, we cannot afford to own one."

Right now I am thinking that we feel like a person who has been told the price for buying a new home and while we are getting ready to move we are being told, "Oh, the price will now be higher than we told you." And, "Your JPS bill will cost about as much as the house itself."

I am not saying that we were deceived. I am saying we were not told all the facts in advance. While the amount obtained in the insurance settlement might not have been known down to the last dollar, the annual operating costs were.

As someone who has raised a huge amount to benefit the children of Treasure Beach--and who has always done exactly what was promised for these students, I find the ambulance situation very troubling.

Exactly what will happen to all the money that has been collected if we do not get an ambulance?

Where does the ambulance stand in BREDS' list of priorities? We know they are concentrating on the Sports Park--and doing a fine job of raising money for it. But, does that mean the ambulance is not as important for the community? Does that mean another group, assuming one is willing and able to do so, should be collecting the funds and running the ambulance service?

Now is time for members of the community to provide their opinions and suggestions.

TB.Net has asked BREDS for further information regarding the ambulance. As soon as we receive answers we will post them here.

Mrs.Kennedy.one also has to take in consideration that the community has to pay a fee of $3000 for emergency trips and $6000 for nonemergency, that is equivalent to what you would pay a private car or possible even more expensive.With the cost in mind one is prone to call a car that is nearer the scene of the emergency which most likely will wait on you at the hospital which the ambulance wont.

The way I understand it is they ask for a donation but will not refuse anyone with an emergency if they cannot afford to pay.

Thank you Karen! your questions are clear and hopefully [edited by TB.Net] BREDS will take the time to sit down and have a documented response.

Thanks for standing up for Treasure Beach! [edited by TB.Net].

Maybe we should consider buying something else to that is more reasonable to transport the sick and less fortunate.

couldn't a simple passenger car be purchased and be used as an ambulance ?

TB.Net would like to thank Winnie Hylton of Taino Cove for her donation.

While we are awaiting more information on the cost of the ambulance and its annual operating expenses, could someone from the Treasure Beach Women's Group tell us how much was raised toward it at the March 30th event?

Thank you.

To my understanding the ambulance was run by volunteer before and the new cost for the annual operating expenses are because Breds is looking to hire a staff to run the new ambulance.

We have received the following answers from BREDS to the questions proposed:

Funds raised for Ambulance include US$26,000 from insurance / US$3,590 from Treasurebeach.net / US$675 from individual donors which totals US$30,265. New ambulance is US$46,000 which leaves shortfall of US$15,735

Fun day at Sports Park lost money due to several factors out of our control being among them - 3 large funerals, power outage, rain.

Ambulance would take approximately 2-3 months to get delivered.

Annual cost to run ambulance is as follows; US$3,000 insurance / US$12,000 salary / US$3,500 - gas / US$1,500 - maintenance which totals US$20,000.

No other fundraisers specifically for Ambulance that we know about at this time.

We thank all current and past contributors including NCB Foundation.

If enough funds cannot be raised the directors of Breds are seeking feedback on how current funds could be used.

Suggestions so far include annual training of community persons in First Aid by Red Cross / Contributing to the construction of a clinic.

As BREDS indicated, we are close to the goal but not quite there yet. Therefore we are asking for any ideas on new fund raising events or opportunities to make the final push towards getting an ambulance for all the residents and visitors to Treasure Beach.

I totally think a clinic would be a great idea!the salary cost is too high. Are we saying no one is willing to volunteer to drive the ambulance?. I am gonna wait on Karen's response.

The ambulance was run with volunteer staff in the past and many issues occurred as a result. Finding and training enough volunteers to be able to have someone on call 24/7 (including drivers who have to have a particular type of driver's license to be allowed to drive the ambulance), scheduling the volunteers each week to make sure they were available during certain hours, when an emergency call came in contacting the volunteers, having them get ready, etc. hampered response time greatly, and many more reasons.

We understand that we have to do what we can afford but it would be much better on many levels if we could have a paid/dedicated staff.

My Suggestion- every property owner make a donation of a day or two or week's stay at their place...A few of the bigger properties do week long spa packages (Jakes), every little place throw in something, maybe a meal or drinks.

BREDS who I am assuming has paid or full time staff of some sort organizes this and does a raffle like the TB foundation, but maybe the tickets are priced low enough that everyone reading this can afford at least one no
matter their situation.

Another idea- every business in the area contribute $1000 J per staff member. Small guesthouses and such run by only husband and wife, contribute $2,000. Big places with 25 employees contribute $25,0000. Likkle shop with 2 workers, $2,000. I know this is not possible for everyone right now, but this is another suggestion and this scale would allow the more well off to pay more of their share.

Let other NGO s pool their expertise and support with the comm. to do this worthy project, perhaps the controls could be a shared responsibility,...just thinking.

Isn't there a MP for the St.Elizabeth/TB area who could assist with local Government sponsorship for this initiative.

At one point, BREDS wanted to raise money for additional ambulances for St. Elizabeth. They said, “It is well known that St Elizabeth has experienced more fatalities through motor vehicle accidents than any other parish in Jamaica. It is therefore imperative that we seek to provide the needed medical assistance to help when these emergency situations arise. The additional ambulances will continue the work recently started and assist in covering a wider geographical area in South East St Elizabeth.”

We now all understand that buying and maintaining even one ambulance is an ambitious task. In addition, BREDS is engaged in numerous activities—the Sports Park being their main focus.

According to the last figures reported by TB.net, $30,265 had been raised by various donors as of July 12th. (The figure might be higher now because more donations may have been received.) This left a shortfall of $15,735 based on the $46,000 cost for the new ambulance.

In its excellent blog (http://treasurebeach.tumblr.com/tagged/donate), BREDS is now seeking $54,662 (USD) for a 2013 Toyota Hiace bus to help athletes “arrive at tournaments in style—and with serious pride.” However, there seems to be no mention in this blog of funds being needed for the ambulance, and BREDS does not appear to be actively soliciting these funds.

We need an ambulance for the community. This includes residents, visitors, and people who use the Sports Park—including professional athletes.

Most people I know have contributed what they could, so going back to the same people for more money doesn’t seem as if it would yield much more money.

TB.net has said, “If enough funds cannot be raised the directors of BREDS are seeking feedback on how current funds could be used. Suggestions so far include annual training of community persons in First Aid by Red Cross / Contributing to the construction of a clinic.”

Many community members have already been trained, and I believe the training was provided either free or at a very small cost. The cost of building and maintaining a clinic would be far higher than the cost of buying and running an ambulance.

In addition, when people donated for an ambulance, they were not told that their money might be used for another purpose if not enough funds could be raised. Several people have told me they want this ambulance very much, but if that is not going to happen then they want their donations returned.

I am not pushing for the return of ambulance donations. I am simply asking BREDS to please place a higher priority on obtaining and running this ambulance—and actively soliciting their donor base to see if it can possibly be done.

To clarify, the quote Karen mentions was from Breds, not TBNet:
"TB.net has said, “If enough funds cannot be raised the directors of BREDS are seeking feedback on how current funds could be used. Suggestions so far include annual training of community persons in First Aid by Red Cross / Contributing to the construction of a clinic.” "

-TBNet

I apologize if it seemed that I was quoting TB.net because that was never my intent. TB.net merely reported what BREDS told them.

I continue to believe that BREDS could--and should--be soliciting funds for this very important effort.