THE MONTHLY GLEANER | NOVEMBER 10 - DECEMBER 10, 2022 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 4 sending me back to City Hall.” Describing himself as a ‘tough-born Jamaican’with a pedigree of intelligence, strength and a strong understanding of self, Thompson said he would leave the matter for the courts to deal with. First elected in 2003, Thompson won 9,977 votes in the October’s municipal election, more than the combined total of the other five candidates. He said it is absolutely fantastic that Myers, Moise and Morley have won their elections. Thompson participated in a training initiative to help Myers and Morley prepare themselves to run for council. He has been supportive of the process working with Operation Black Vote Canada to help up-and-coming black politicians. “It’s fantastic because for the longest while I’ve been just that one guy. People from Brampton, people from Durham, people fromWhitby, people from all over the city, all different wards would reach out to my office cause they felt that they weren’t being helped or people didn’t understand the cultural elements that they need to understand to help them through the challenges.” He said all three councillors-elect are bright, capable, and are able to distinguish themselves as they serve their respective communities. “But it is really important that we realize the benefits to the City of Toronto that these people will bring to the table because of the fact they have lived experiences that are integrated with other backgrounds and cultures because they are part of who we are, part of our DNA as a very diverse city,”Thompson said. In the city of Brampton, Jamaican Peel District School Board trustees Kathy McDonald of Wards 3 and 4, and David Green ofWards 1 and 5 were re-elected. Joining them on the board will be another Jamaican, school trustee-elect Karla Bailey for Wards 7 and 8. UNSUCCESSFUL This was Bailey’s third time running in a municipal election. In 2014 and 2018, she ran for city councillor, but was unsuccessful. The seat became open again when CharmaineWilliams, then councillor of Wards 7 and 8, won in the provincial election earlier this year . In 2019, Bailey, who was born in Kingston, started working with parents through the Parent Involvement Committee (PIC) at Peel District School Board. She said she had no intention of running again for office until parents began asking her to run for school board trustee. “They let me know I’ve been a strong advocate as a PIC member and they would like me to be an advocate at the trustee level. Other community members also requested that I run for trustee.” She thought about it and after talking to her family and praying about it, she decided to run. “Community building is something that I strongly believe in,” said Bailey who migrated to Canada in 1987 at the age of 9. Christopher Thomas/ Gleaner Writer WESTERN BUREAU: ALTHOUGH BREAST Cancer Awareness Month has passed, the Trelawny-based Heart and Soul Cancer Foundation is still campaigning to provide the Falmouth Public General Hospital with a mammography machine to help in screening for the illness. The foundation is seeking assistance to procure the $12-million equipment to better equip the Type B hospital in combating breast cancer, the leading cancer in Jamaican women. Sonia Morris, founder and president of the Heart and Soul Cancer Foundation, told The Gleaner that the drive to secure the machine started when she discovered that there was no readily available screening process in the local public-health system. “Folks were calling us to ask, ‘Do you do mammograms?’, and ‘How much do mammograms cost?’ We, on the other end, have been encouraging ladies to get checked as early detection is what saves lives, only to hear that they do not have the funds to do that,” said Morris, a two-time breast cancer survivor. MAMMOGRAM MACHINE “Why was this? It is because the public systemdoes not have a mammogrammachine, and furthermore, they have to be travelling far to get these screenings done because there is no imaging facility here in Trelawny,”Morris added. The foundation held a fundraiser on October 1 – at the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month – to raise the funds to purchase the machine, but Morris said that her organisation still needs additional financial help to achieve the goal. “We have to campaign further because it is a huge project, and it is costly - around US$80,000 or J$12 million,” she said. The Heart and Soul Cancer Foundation was launched in 2018 as a non-profit organisation with the goal of assisting cancer patients in offsetting the costs for their treatment. The foundation donated three chemotherapy infusion chairs, valued at J$500,000, to the St Jamesbased Cornwall Regional Hospital in April this year, bringing the number at the facility to 12. “We have been preaching that we are on a mission to save lives and that women should get early detection because everyone who deals with cancer knows that early detection saves lives,” said Errol Richards, Morris’ husband and the vice-president and co-founder of the foundation. Persons interested in assisting with the purchase of the mammography machine for the Falmouth Public General Hospital can contact the Heart and Soul Cancer Foundation at 876-587-6920. EDITOR’S NOTE: In a story published in the November 1, 2022, edition of The Gleaner, it was erroneously stated that the foundation had already donated themammographymachine to the Falmouth Hospital. We regret that error. Push to raise funds for Falmouth Hospital mammography machine continues IMPORTANT CONTINUED FROM 2
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