Jean Lowrie-Chin
While we celebrate the first step towards legislation to protect older people, the need is so urgent that a committee was recently convened by CCRP, a seniors advocacy organisation, with representatives of leading government organisations.
We discovered that Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Charmaine Shand, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jacqueline Dillon, Garran Diviney of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) Training Division, and Jay Scott of the investigative branch of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) have been serving Jamaica’s elderly without any fanfare.ACP Shand, head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Community Safety and Security Branch noted, “Some of the challenges that I see is that [the elderly] really are left on their own by their communities. We have urged family or neighbours to assist them when they visit clinics.” She said that sometimes they are hurt on the road and the police have difficulty in contacting family members.
The JCF has been assisting CCRP in our outreach activities, distributing care packages to the needy elderly in volatile inner-city areas.ACP Shand shared that the JCF has community and safety officers in every division and would be happy to participate in meetings with stakeholders to have oversight of our vulnerable elderly to ensure that they are not left on their own.
Jamaica Highlights 