Global Village Partners in Jamaica





Our work in Jamaica predates the formation of Global Village Partners. We have been working with the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf since 2015. We formalized our partnership with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in January 2019.





Signing of Memorandum of Understanding between the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf (CCCD) and Global Village Partners (GVP). Tashi Widmer - Former Executive Director of CCCD Jamaica and Dr. Brian Kreisman, President of GVP.



The Challenge



3 Million



People in Jamaica



1



Audiologist



5



Speech Pathologists



10



ENT Physicians



Goals with our partners





1. To increase the number of identified deaf children who would benefit from deaf education, by

a. Identifying individuals within CCCD who can be trained to screen hearing.

b. Providing systematic training for personnel.

c. Obtaining hearing screening equipment.

d. Referring families of children for diagnostic testing as needed.

e. Providing access to an audiologist with GVP, via video conferencing, for questions and suggestions.


2. To increase audiological services in Jamaica, by

a. Establishing and equipping a hearing clinic for children and adults in the general public.

b. Searching for an audiologist to provide services in the hearing clinic, or a rotation of audiologists that can provide consistent services.

c. Consulting with other organizations in Jamaica that have established or desire to establish hearing clinics and determining opportunities to collaborate.

d. Advocating for university graduate degree programs in audiology and speech pathology.



Why We do what we do



There are approximately 7,000 deaf children in Jamaica between ages 0-14. In all the schools for the Deaf, there are only about 600 children. Where are the other 6,400 children? Either they are enrolled in public schools where they cannot hear their teacher and have no support services, or they are not being sent to school at all. These children do not know sign language and cannot hear spoken English. They have no language and no way to communicate. We want to bring stakeholders together to develop a program to find these children and help their parents to understand that their children can learn and that it is important for their children to learn a language as early as possible for the best educational, social, and vocational success.



Audiology partners





Dr. Georgia Beavers, Au.D., is the only audiologist in Jamaica and a member of Global Village Partners. We hope to continue to come alongside Dr. Beavers and supply hearing aids for children whose families cannot afford them.



HEaring screenings





Global Village Partners joined other organizations to provide health screenings for a Health Fair held at the CCCD Knockpatrick campus in August 2022. We have also provided over 400 hearing tests to students and staff on the CCCD campuses over the years.



REACH TO TEACH CONFERENCE





The Reach to Teach Conference was the first of its kind in Jamaica. Held in May 2019, the conference was co-sponsored by Global Village Partners, the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf, and the Jamaica Association for the Deaf. The purpose of the conference was to bring together stakeholders working with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, including representatives from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, non-governmental organizations, educators, and parents.



(C) 2023 Global Village Partners



contact@globalvillagepartners.org