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Joy Crooks (left), nurse administrator of the Community for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill (CUMI) accepts a plaque for her outstanding contribution to community service from Hyacinth Shakes Warren, president of the Kiwanis Club of Providence, on International Women's Day, March 8.Joseph Cunningham, Gleaner Reporter
THEY OFFER a second chance at sanity to street people in Montego Bay.
"We want to improve the physical and mental health as well as the basic quality of life of these people," says Joy Crooks, psychiatric nurse at the Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill (CUMI).
Further, she affirmed that CUMI is a second stage of treatment for clients who have been treated and stabilised in hospital; this to prevent clients from reverting to the habits of street life.
CUMI's outreach programmes extend to intimate relationships with its clients.
Paul Rhodes, affiliate to the Port Antonio Street People Committee and retired associate clinical professor at George Washington University in Washington D.C, U.S., claims that medical and other therapy should precede what he calls 'talk therapy'.
"It is very critical to be a trusted friend to these clients," Professor Rhodes said. "Many people live on the streets because they have been rejected or have become frustrated by life's challenges. The most effective approach is to firstly develop a relationship with the client on the street before inviting him/her to a shelter."
The underlined trust, Dr. Rhodes says, can then be used to encourage proper hygiene and other social requirements.
According to Ms. Crooks, clients brought to CUMI's attention are first registered to the Cornwall Regional Hospital for evaluation at the committee's expense.
PRESCRIPTIVE PROGRAMMES
"Medical and prescriptive
programmes are administered based on the results of these evaluations," she explained, noting that they are then placed on a nutrition programme to build their immune systems.
Noting that family input is also critical to the rehabilitation process, Nurse Crooks emphasised CUMI's mission to re-unite clients with their families after they are rehabilitated.
"It is very significant to us that their families are involved in their redevelopment to give a sense of worth," she said.
CUMI is a non-governmental organisation and charitable foundation established in 1991 in response to a rapidly growing number of destitute and mentally ill homeless people on the streets of Montego Bay, St. James.
Today CUMI has developed into a Day Rehabilitation Centre and Night Shelter. The organisation has to date served approximately 700 persons, 300 of which have completed the rehabilitation programme and reclaimed their place in the community, gaining full or part-time employment.
CUMI's complementing rehabilitative services include counselling and a programme in self-maintenance, plus a successful gardening and crochet programme.
CUMI is sustained through on-going fund-raising and contributions from the general society (individuals, churches, schools, service clubs, tourism, and businesses, governmental and non-governmental organisations).
To contact CUMI, call Nurse Joy Crooks at 952-8737.
