THE MONTHLY GLEANER | NOVEMBER 2 - DECEMBER 2, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 8 EPISCOPAL HEALTH Services (EHS), in partnership with Ross University School of Medicine, held a ribboncutting ceremony on September 14, to mark the completion of a new Clinical Learning Center (CLC). The CLC, located at 19-09 Plainview Avenue on the St John’s Episcopal Hospital Campus, Queens, NY, will provide an innovative learning environment, including the latest teaching technologies and much-needed meeting space for medical students who train at the hospital. The CLC features state-of-the-art simulation labs to support medical training. Each Sim Lab is equipped with standard furniture and equipment found within a hospital facility, from computer technology to diagnostic tools. There are sophisticated mannequins controlled by an operator to emulate situations our medical students will face in the real world. There is also a skills lab where students can learn the basics and hone their skills and a Scrub Sim area to teach good practices for the Operating Room (OR). In addition, to being a teaching facility, the Clinical Learning Center will be home to the St John’s Ambulatory Clinic, currently located on the fifth floor of St John’s Episcopal Hospital, a Medical Library, and the organisation’s Information Technology Department. “This building is extremely important to EHS,” said the CEO of Episcopal Health Services, Jerry Walsh. “We are a growing organisation and expanding not only in terms of care but by educating tomorrow’s medical leaders. When looking at our strategic priorities, we look at how we can enhance the experience of patients, our students, and our team members. This building reflects this priority!” In attendance at the ceremony was The Rt Rev Bishop Lawrence C. Provenzano, EHS Chair, Board of Trustees; Jerry Walsh, CEO of Episcopal Health Services; Renee Hastick Motes, SVP & Chief External Affairs Officer & President of S John’s ICARE Foundation; Dr Donald T. Morrish, EVP & Chief Medical Officer; Dr Heidi Chumley, University Dean at Ross University School of Medicine; Pedro L. Delgado, MD, the Dean of the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC); Christopher Callahan, Head of Healthcare for M&T Bank; and Queens Borough President, Donovan Richards Jr. “Any time I can wake up to come to an event like this where we are improving healthcare opportunities and outcomes, creating jobs, and eliminating disparities for our families, is a good one, and there’s no better place to do that than right here in the Peninsula,” says Donovan Richards, Queens Borough president. “Congratulations, Jerry, you had a vision, and vision is the act of seeing what is invisible to others.” “At Ross Med, we exist because there are inequities in access to quality medical education in healthcare. Our role is to expand access to quality medical education and support our students through graduation and residency, said Heidi Chumley. We believe that fostering a diverse position pipeline begins in prospective students’ home communities. We want our students to return to their communities and to the very people who inspired them to be physicians in the first place.” Episcopal Health Services opens new clinical learning centre Jerry Walson CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS Heidi Chumley Don Richards Renee Hastick-Motes PANAMA CITY (AP): FACING A second week of impassioned, nationwide protests, Panama’s National Assembly has nearly passed a new law revoking a controversial mining contract in an environmentally vulnerable part of country. The bill passed a second debate late on Wednesday and faced a final vote Thursday in which no changes can be made. Panama’s legislature first agreed a contract extension with Canadian mining company First Quantum and it’s local subsidiary, Minera Panama, in March. The resulting protests – the largest since a cost of living crisis last July – have sparked a series of backtracks from President Laurentino Cortizo. The new bill not only repeals that contract but extends a moratorium on all concessions for mining activities until the country’s Code of Mineral Resources is reformed. Before legislators debated the extraordinary measure, Cortizo first proposed a national referendum on the contract. Eight lawsuits were also filed with Panama’s Supreme Court arguing it was unconstitutional. Initially it was unclear how persuasive environmental objections would prove against the mine’s demonstrated economic promise. It is the largest private investment in Panama’s history and already creates roughly three per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. Now, however, popular protests have materialised into serious legislative and legal challenges, which pushed First Quantum’s shares into a 47 per cent freefall since markets opened on the Toronto Stock Exchange at the start of this week. Critics warned using a new law to revoke the contract could leave the government liable to legal action from Minera Panama. If, however, the Supreme Court declared the contract unconstitutional, lawyers said it would be annulled without the risk of possible multimillion-dollar lawsuits. The contract would allow 20-40 more years of open pit copper mining across 13,000 hectares of forested land just 75 miles (120 kilometres) west of the capital, in the state of Colon. Environmentalists argue continued mining would imperil drinking water and destroy more forest. Assembly to revoke contract for Canadian mining company after public outcry PANAMA
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