By Damion Mitchell, Gleaner WriterTHREE PREPARATORY schools in Manchester have joined with the Jamaica Cardiac Society to keep the heartbeats of numerous young children alive.
The schools - Mount St. Joseph, West Indies College and Belair preparatory, respectively - will be staging a concert at the Northern Caribbean University on May 23 to raise funds to assist more than 100 children needing heart surgeries.
"We feel we have to help them," Jasset Lindo, a member of the organising committee for the concert told The Gleaner Monday.
She said that the idea to stage the concert was initiated by Jem Stanley, principal of the Mount St. Joseph Preparatory School, who later made contact with the other two schools to support the effort.
According to Miss Lindo, there is an apparent need for more awareness among the public about children suffering from cardiac problems. As a result, she said that May 12 will be declared 'Save a child's heart day' in Manchester.
On that day, several coin receptacles will be placed at schools across the parish to solicit further financial contributions to assist the heart patients.
Cerina Percy, is the administrative manager at the Jamaica Cardiac Society. She said that last year, the organisation helped 28 children to undergo heart surgery with assistance from a medical group from the United Kingdom. Another seven children were aslo assisted last week.
Mrs. Percy said that last year just over $700,000 was raised to assist cardiac patients and she too noted that there was need for more public education on cardiac problems.
