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The Frenchman’s Creek Charities Foundation renders financial and in-kind support to civic and not-for profit organizations whose purposes are to provide civic and cultural programs designed to assist and promote the well-being of the residents and their communities. In keeping with this goal, the Foundation issues grants to the Palm Beach Gardens Fire, Recreation and Police Departments as well as Juno Beach which allow them to purchase equipment which otherwise they may have to forgo. Not only does this help our communities, but it is extremely interesting to see how they use new innovations which improve their effectiveness.

Last year, the Palm Beach Gardens Fire Department requested funds to help purchase a Pediatric Patient Simulator, a robot that looks like a five-year-old boy capable of facial expression, emotion, movement and speech. It is intended to help professionals improve skills in pediatric care. This robot, called Hal, can go into cardiac arrest and receive real glucose testing. It can also show emotions such as anger and worry. The Palm Beach Gardens paramedics do not confront a large number of pediatric calls, but when they do, they are often high-risk situations where the paramedics need to be prepared and capable of diagnosing and administering effective treatment. Through this scenario-based learning, Hal can help paramedics asses verbal and non-verbal cues, develop IV skills and improve emergency intervention skills. The Palm Beach Gardens Recreation Department requested a grant to provide live musical entertainment to our community. Unfortunately, COVID-19 made this form of entertainment no longer practical. Instead, the funds have been redirected to purchase a screen for drive-in movies which enables the Rec Department to simultaneously provide entertainment to its residents while adhering to social distancing guidelines. The screens will have ongoing use for years to come.

In this difficult time, we at Frenchman’s Creek can feel proud that our community is helping to pro-vide a recreational outlet for Palm Beach Gardens residents.

We also gave a grant to the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department in 2018 so that they could purchase cell phone forensics equipment and provide training on its use for their senior crime analyst. The equipment is used in every case where a cell phone is recovered. Cell phones provide a treasure trove of data for those working in forensics and the data often helps solve cases and win convictions. There are many inter-esting articles on the internet that explain how this is done.

Then in 2019, we gave the department a grant to purchase new equipment for its drone program. Drones have been used successfully in locating fleeing suspects and in rescue missions. They also provide a reliable method of analyzing traffic issues. The drone speeds up response time and requires less personnel to accomplish the needed task. Over the past several years, Juno Beach has used our donations to purchase several pieces of equipment including a message board given to the Juno Police Department to notify drivers of emergency situations and to help control traffic flow. Last year, Juno purchased a T3 Patroller electric standup vehicle (ESV) with our grant. The vehicle is economical to operate and simple to use. Its main purpose is to patrol high density areas such as craft fairs.

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