On Jamaica’s annual Labour Day, the energy sector firm JEP Group extended its long-running corporate social responsibility commitments by returning to Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) for a second straight year, mobilizing nearly 200 volunteers to upgrade the hospital’s high-traffic Outpatient Department.
Under the project theme “The Work Continues”, the volunteer effort united a diverse cross-section of stakeholders: JEP Group employees, beneficiaries of the company’s scholarship program, key strategic business partners, and uniformed officers from the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Together, the team carried out a full slate of improvement works, including interior and exterior painting, deep cleaning, and minor structural restoration across the department.
As one of Jamaica’s busiest public healthcare facilities, KPH’s Outpatient Department caters to an average of 3,500 patients every single day, placing constant strain on the department’s aging infrastructure. This year’s project builds on JEP Group’s 2023 Labour Day intervention, which delivered comprehensive renovations to the hospital’s critical Renal Unit.
In an interview on site, JEP Group President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Wayne McKenzie framed the initiative as more than just a one-off community gesture, positioning it as part of the company’s core commitment to bolstering Jamaica’s public institutions and upgrading care environments for both patients and healthcare staff.
“This effort is about far more than simply making the space look nicer,” Dr. McKenzie explained. “Kingston Public Hospital serves thousands of Jamaicans from across the country every day, and the clinical and support teams here work nonstop under extremely challenging conditions to provide life-saving care. We wanted to give back to a facility that gives so much to our community.”
Dr. McKenzie emphasized that the deliberate decision to return to KPH, rather than shifting resources to a new community project, was intentional. “Last year, we delivered major upgrades to the Renal Unit, but we quickly saw there was no shortage of critical work still needed across the hospital. This year’s theme, ‘The Work Continues’, captures our core belief that lasting, meaningful change in public services does not come from one-off projects—it depends on consistent investment, long-term commitment, and sustained collaboration between all sectors,” he said.
KPH Chief Executive Officer Dwayne Francis welcomed the private sector partnership, noting that the Outpatient Department upgrades came at a critical time and would deliver tangible benefits to both care teams and the patients they serve.
“For a private organization to choose to return year after year, and invest their time and resources into improving our public care spaces, that means more to our team than we can say,” Francis noted. “Upgrading our physical environment doesn’t just make patients more comfortable and uphold their dignity—it also boosts staff morale and directly improves the quality of care we are able to deliver every day.”
Moya Mullings, JEP Group’s Senior Marketing Officer and the lead coordinator for the project, added that the overwhelming turnout of nearly 200 volunteers highlights the transformative power of cross-sector collaboration between private businesses, public institutions and local communities. “When different groups come together behind a shared national goal, there is no limit to the positive change we can deliver for Jamaican people,” Mullings said.
The Labour Day hospital project is one component of JEP Group’s broader corporate social responsibility framework, which centers four core focus areas: accessible healthcare, quality education, youth economic empowerment, and inclusive community development across Jamaica.