Before Raymond Levy’s mother died, he made her a promise. “My mother passed away about three years ago,” said the Miami businessman. “One of her dying wishes was she wanted me to do something for the community she grew up in.”
His mother had been a nurse for many years, and Levy recalled a photograph in her home of the small Jamaican hospital where she, his grandmother, and most of his uncles had been born.
Levy, who has been developing health care businesses since 1996, wanted to fulfill his mother’s wish by starting a medical mission in her birthplace. He admitted feeling overwhelmed at the prospect, that is, until a friend introduced him to Professor of Clinical Johis Ortega, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies (SONHS).
“It’s a huge undertaking, but when the opportunity arose at UM to work with Johis and the School of Nursing and Health Studies, I said, ‘perfect,’” recounted Levy, president of the not-for-profit corporation Breaking Healthcare Barriers.
Within a few months of their first meeting, Levy, Ortega, a small team of health professionals, and 10 master’s degree nursing students from SONHS were en route to Jamaica. They spent Spring Break 2024 there, providing primary care services in Chapelton, a rural town in the foothills, about two hours from Kingston.
Levy’s cousin Michael Stern, a local government official in Jamaica, helped make the Community Health Fair at the Chapelton Community Hospital, a commemorative event honoring Levy’s mother and two other relatives, a reality.
“This was our first year, so we didn’t know what to expect,” said Levy. “We had a pretty good turnout. We saw over 600 folks who came for dental services, medical services, or vision exams.”
After conducting initial triage assessments to determine the patients’ needs, the nurse practitioner students from SONHS took vital signs, checked blood glucose levels, and completed cholesterol and lipid panels before beginning full head to toe assessments.
“When you’re home in the States, you have everything at your fingertips, and especially in a big city like Miami. It doesn’t work that way in Jamaica,” said Josh Boyd, a part-time student in the SONHS Acute Care MSN Program who graduates in August. “You have to think, OK, what else can I do for the patient that’s going to facilitate them getting this care they need, or this continuity, or these medications? It forces you to challenge yourself and come up with different ways of how you’re going to be successful.”
Supervising and mentoring the nursing students were Dr. Ortega, Dr. Juan M. Gonzalez, director of the SONHS Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program, Dr. Kenya Snowden, director of the SONHS Family Nurse Practitioner program, and physicians from Levy’s medical clinics.
“This trip was professionally enriching and personally rewarding for all participants,” said Dr. Ortega. “Our students had a unique opportunity to put their advanced nursing skills to use in an underserved environment. They made a substantial impact on the well-being of individuals in need while gaining a deeper understanding of global health care disparities and the power of collaborative care. We are very grateful to Mr. Levy and his provider team for their partnership on this important work.”
Boyd, an emergency department nurse who had never been on a medical mission trip, found the experience powerfully positive for him and his classmates. “We all collaborated, worked well together, and took care of people who were extremely underserved,” he said. “Some of these patients haven’t been to a doctor a day in their life. They were just so grateful to have us there and providing these services to them. They were the most appreciative people I have ever met and taken care of in my career. That is something that will always be near and dear to my heart and that I’ll never forget.”
Boyd noted that he and the other students were trained on inputting health fair data into an electronic medical records system that will allow patients seen during the inaugural event to continue receiving follow-up care in the years, or even decades, to come.
“The whole purpose of doing this mission is to create a continuity of care with the folks in that community, to keep on coming back,” confirmed Levy. “What we do here in the States is push the continuity of care so you can eliminate a lot more comorbidities. That’s what I’m trying to create there in Jamaica as well. It’s more of a proactive approach. We try to catch the condition on the front end and treat it, and hopefully eliminate it.”
In the meantime, Levy has found a way to fulfill his promise to his mother and honor her nursing legacy. “We’re blessed that we made it work,” he said. “I think she’d be proud.”
