Health City Wins Award For Commitment To Education
Cayman Islands (November 19, 2018) – Health City Cayman Islands has been recognised for its commitment to education by the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce.
Along with Dart Enterprises Ltd., Health City Cayman Islands was the recipient of the Commitment to Education award at the 2018 Business Excellence Awards on October 27.
Health City was recognised for its Healthcare Explorers education program, and shared the award with DART’s Minds Inspired and Dart Scholar programs. Both programs put a strong focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education.
Regarding the Commitment to Education Award, Chamber President Paul Byles explained that the organization wanted to highlight the important philanthropic work of local companies in the Cayman community.
He said, “What has occurred over the many years is that there’s an idea that us in this room trying to pursue profits and do very well may not be the best thing in the world. The fact that you do all these other things gets missed a bit, and I think it’s important to remind the community of that.”
The Healthcare Explorers program at Health City Cayman Islands was founded in June 2014 to provide a STEM education pathway for young Caymanians with an aptitude for science and expose them to career options available in the medical field.
The Healthcare Explorers Program provided 1,428 free STEM education opportunities to Cayman Islands students from its inception through to July 2018. The program encompasses several education initiatives aimed at different age groups, including its Shadow a Doctor Program, STEM education webinars, a partnership with the University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI) School of Nursing and its Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Program.
Several Shadow a Doctor and SURF students, including Lee-El Blake (University of Montevideo), Gledys Melany Gonzalez (University of the West Indies, Mona), Taneil Lee (University of South Florida) and Brandon DaCosta (University of Florida) have gone on to study for careers in medicine.
The Healthcare Explorers Program is offered to students at both public and private schools in the Cayman Islands from Year 8 through to university students.
Health City Education Coordinator & Chaplain Charles D. Bush accepted the award on Health City’s behalf.
He said, “On behalf of Health City Cayman Islands – our Chairman, Board of Directors, Executive team and associates – I would like to say ‘thank you’ to the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce for this Commitment to Education award. German theologian Frederick Buechner wrote that ‘The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet’. It is a blessing to work for an organization where that joy overflows to those in need and to our community every day.”
Mr Bush continued, “We are also grateful and honoured to be able to use our expertise to inspire children to become the next generation of doctors, nurses and technicians in the Cayman Islands. The real winners tonight are our children, our students, who have entrusted us with the opportunity to help them connect their love of science with a future career through our numerous educational products: 2,340 times to date. Our Chairman has been very clear that the future of Health City Cayman Islands is in the hands of the children of this country. We look forward to getting back to work on Monday, encouraged by this award, on making his vision, our vision, a reality. Thank you.”
