EHF’s 11th Annual Wellness & Lifestyle Promotion 2015

“Financial Wellness: How You Can Achieve It”, was the focus for this year’s Wellness & Lifestyle Promotion which was extended beyond its normal one week of activities and for the first time was held over two weeks, April 16 – May 01, 2015. The activities were tremendously dynamic and educational, benefiting students, corporate professionals and members of the general public.

Governor-General’s Proclamation

In support of EHF and its health & wellness promotion, His Excellency the Most Honourable Sir Patrick Allen, Governor-General, proclaimed April 2015 as “Wellness Month” on March 31, 2015 at Kings House. This proclamation was done in alignment with EHF’s aim to underscore the importance of a national health and wellness focus. The Governor General, in his address, commended EHF for its commitment to the promotion of wellness and positive lifestyles, and emphasized the importance of Jamaicans making efforts to enhance their health and wellbeing.

(L-R): Mrs. Latoya Foster – projects manager, EHF; Mrs. Novlet A. Deans – director/chief executive officer, EHF; His Excellency the Most Honourable Sir Patrick Allen, governor-general of Jamaica; Mrs. Kelly Tomblin – president & CEO, JPS and EHF wellness ambassador 2014-2015; Dr. the Hon. Henry Lowe – executive chairman, EHF.

Financial Wellness Seminars in Schools

Seminars were held at four (4) Kingston & St. Andrew based High Schools geared towards enhancing and encouraging financial wellness among youths. Approximately 1,000 students from 4th to 6th form benefited from presentations which were delivered by financial moguls from major companies in Jamaica’s financial sector.

Thursday, April 16 - Wolmer’s Boys’ School: Presenter, Mr. Lissant Mitchell, CEO, Scotia Investments Jamaica Limited.

Monday, April 20 - Kingston College: Presenter, Mr. Philbert Perry, Executive Investment Advisor, Mayberry Investments Limited.

Tuesday, April 21 - Meadowbrook High School: Presenter, Mrs. Kadean Bruce-Miller, Manager - Corporate Solutions, JMMB.

Thursday, April 23 - Jamaica College: Presenter: Mr. Jermaine Deans, Senior Manager – Asset Management, Sagicor Investments.

Tokens and giveaways were courtesy of Eden Gardens Wellness Resort & Spa and EHF

   

Philbert Perry, executive investment advisor, Mayberry Investments Ltd. making his presentation to a group of fourth-form students of Kingston College

 

 

Kadean Bruce-Miller, manager, Corporate Solution of Jamaica Money Market Brokers presenting to fourth, fifth and sixth form students of Meadowbrook High 

 

Lissant Mitchell, CEO of Scotia Investments Jamaica Limited presents to a group of Upper Sixth Form

students of the Wolmer’s Boys’ School recently. Looking on is Mrs. Novlet Deans,CEO of EHF.

 

Jermaine Deans, senior manager for Treasury, Stock Brokerage and Capital Market at Sagicor Investments

Limited, engages a group of Fourth-form students of Jamaica College. Complementing the group is

Patina Rankine, environmental and climate change specialist.

Media Promotion

Representatives from EHF Projects Team made appearances on various television and radio programmes promoting the events. Promotions were done on TVJ’s Smile Jamaica It’s Morning Time, CVM’s morning programme CVM @ Sunrise, Roots FM, Power 106FM and NewsTalk 93FM. The events were also advertised and highlighted in the following print and online media: EHF’s website, The Gleaner, Jamaica Observer, Loop Jamaica, Carib Seek, Entorno Inteligente (Venezuelan online news site) and Jamaica Information Service.  

Faradaine Forbes-Edwards (R), senior projects officer, EHF being interviewed on TVJ’s Smile Jamaica It’s Morning Time, by hosts Simone Clarke-Cooper and Neville Bell (L).

Additionally, a supplement was published in the Gleaner on Tuesday April 28, highlighting EHF’s 23 years of service to Jamaica. This special advertising feature was made possible by our kind sponsors: Eden Gardens Wellness Resort & Spa, EG Wellness Brands, Barita Investments Ltd, Mayberry Investments Ltd, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Yolens, Dr. Harvey Chiropractic Centre, Hylton & Hylton, King Alarm Systems and Thwaites Finson Sharp. The following dignitaries also supported the feature with messages: His Excellency the Most Honourable Sir Patrick Allen, ON, GCMG, CD – Governor General, The Most Honorable Portia Simpson Miller, ON, MP – Prime Minister, and Hyacinth Douglas – National Coordinator, Global Environment Facility/Small Grants Programme. 

Schools’ Wellness Seminar 2015

This year’s Seminar held Tuesday, April 28 and Eden Gardens, was extremely educational and exciting. EHF’s Wellness Club members from nine (9) schools within the parishes of Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Ann and Trelawny were in attendance and participated with their usual exuberance. EHF’s CEO, Novlet Deans, brought greetings.  

Mrs. Venise Chin See Parchment, Financial Services Officer at BPM Financial Ltd educated the students and teachers on measures they can take to create wealth for themselves. She was very practical in her delivery and introduced viable options to wealth creation that both students and teachers can explore and pursue.

The audience was fully involved in the presentation done by Kimroy Bailey, the founder of the Kimroy Bailey Foundation. The young and successful innovator and entrepreneur spoke to the students and teachers about ‘wealth creation through innovation’ and demonstrated this with his robotic arm that records and replicates a person’s finger movements. 

Below: Kimroy Bailey of Kimroy Bailey Foundation demonstrating the use of his robot and robotic arm

Above: Venice Chin See Parchment, Financial Services Officer at BPM Financials interacting with the audience. 

The schools which participated in our Wellness Talent competition provided a belly full of laughter and high quality entertainment. St. John’s Preparatory from St. Ann and Westwood High were the unanimous winners in their respective categories. 

Winners and runners-up of the poetry, poster, essay and talent competitions were awarded trophies and certificates. Outstanding club coordinators were acknowledged and awarded for their work with the students and in the clubs. Westwood High copped the coveted title as winners of the Special Projects competition for the extensive work in their school and community, promoting and encouraging wellness. All the participants received branded EHF takeaways (including the EHF SWC button) and were presented with tokens and prizes courtesy of EG Wellness Brands, Lasco Distributors Ltd., Palace Amusement Ltd., CPU Supplies Ltd., Go-Tech Solutions, Eden Spa, PriceSmart and NK Wholesale.

Wellness Awards Ceremony & Cocktails Reception

The EHF Wellness Ambassador Designation was this year bestowed upon Keith Duncan, Group CEO of Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) Group. He was awarded this title for his demonstrated belief in a healthy social and work environment, physical and mental health, and proper financial planning. This award was a part of EHF’s Wellness Awards Ceremony and Cocktails Reception held Wednesday, April 29 on the lawns of Eden Gardens Wellness Resort & Spa at 5:30pm. 

Additionally, four organizations and individuals were awarded for their continuous contribution and celebration of wellness. Rohan Gordon, Fitness Instructor at Eden Fitness received the award for his contribution to Physical Wellness, acknowledging his promotion of healthy eating, daily exercises and his frequent participation in Marathons. The Innovators led by Yanique Page, was awarded for their contribution to Financial Wellness; this is for their reality TV series that assist with the transformation of struggling entrepreneurs. Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation received the award for Social Wellness for their active community outreach programmes geared towards alleviating illiteracy, school drop-outs, poor parenting practices; equipping persons for employment opportunities and stemming the level of violence in inner city communities. The Cultural Wellness award was presented to Rozi Chung of Studio 174 for providing therapy through visual arts for inner-city children in Jamaica.

The keynote address was delivered by Mrs. Marlene Street Forrest, General Manager, Jamaica Stock Exchange who encouraged individuals to get a financial check-up in the same way that a medical check-up is required (as) it is most important to assess where they have the greatest vulnerability. Dr. Michael Abrahams served as the master of ceremonies while Silver Birds Steel Orchestra provided the entertainment. Giveaways were courtesy of Eden Gardens Wellness Resort & Spa, Eden Spa and EG Wellness Brands.

(L-R) Marlene Street Forest receiving her token of appreciation from Prof. Errol Morrison, director of EHF. In the centre is the Master of Ceremonies, Dr. Michael Abrahams

EHF Team Members

Back (:-R): Latoya Foster, projects manager; Marjaalaine Francis, projects officer, Novlet Deans, CEO; Michelle Samuels, technical coordinator;

Front (L-R): Patina Rankine, environmental and climate change specialist; Marcia Williams, admin assistant; Nikeisha Lee, executive assistant

 

    

Highlights from the 11^th Annual Wellness & Lifestyle Awards Ceremony and Cocktail Reception

Financial Wellness Forum for NGOs

A very informative Financial Wellness Forum for NGOs was held Thursday, April 30 at Eden Gardens Wellness Resort & Spa.  Speakers and panelists included Claudette Crooks, President of MoneyMasters Ltd; Rita Humphries-Lewin, Chairman of Barita Investments Ltd and Gary Peart, CEO of Mayberry Investments Ltd. They were very practical with the information presented to the NGO operators/administrators and encouraged them to focus more of their efforts on empowering individuals and communities rather than continuing with the ‘hand-out’ approach. NGOs were also urged to find creative and innovative ways to generate funding and expand on the limited resources they have to ensure the sustainability of their programmes. The panelists commended the NGOs for the roles they play in the development of Jamaica and encouraged them to be disciplined with their spending and not to mismanage or misappropriate the funds donated to them.  

L-R: Gary Peart, CEO of Mayberry Investments; Rita Humphries-Lewin, chairman of Barita Investments Ltd and Claudette Crooks, president of MoneyMasters Ltd.

 

EHF’s CEO, Novlet Deans with our expert panelists

This event was the 2nd in the serious of EHF’s NGO Forums, an initiative that will become a staple component within our Annual Wellness & Lifestyle Promotion. Tokens and giveaways were courtesy of EG Wellness Brands and Nestlé Jamaica.

Nutrition Workshop

This year’s Wellness Week of activities ended in its usual flair with our Nutrition and Fitness workshops on Friday May 01, 2015. Over 60 parents and school cooks from EHF’s adopted Early Childhood Institutions in Kingston & St. Andrew participated in the Nutrition Workshop, facilitated by Lasco Distributors Ltd. The team of Nutritionist and Chefs hosted a wonderful programme which featured a discussion session on cooking methods, a cook off between teams from the audience and ‘celebrity Chefs’, demonstrations of simple healthy meals for the home, and giveaways courtesy of EG Wellness Brands.

Representatives of Eden Gardens Wellness Resort & Spa were invited as the ‘celebrity chefs’ to participate in the cook-off competition. Etmour Williams of Eden Spa and Head Chef, Norman Stewart were paired with cooks from two schools.  Norman lead his team to victory with their very creative ‘mackerel delight’. Etmour’s team fought gallantly but came up a little short with their ‘mackerel combination style’ dish.

 

 

Krishta-Gay Lewis-Harewood, the brand manager for Lasco Distributors Ltd., interacting with the audience

 

 

Cook-off competition underway

The energetic and enthusiastic team from Lasco Distributors Ltd.

 

EHF’s projects’ team members making a presentation to the team from Lasco Distributors Ltd.

Fitness Workshop

Kamila McDonald-Alcock hosted the Fitness workshop that was attended by participants from the Nutrition workshop and EHF’s staff. The session comprised a 30 minutes high energy workout, followed by a discussion on simple everyday healthy practices such as easy exercise routines that can be done utilizing spaces and items in the home. Giveaways were courtesy of EG Wellness Brands and Eden Spa.