Ms. Ja-Mae Smith started her career in Regulation and Public Policy while doing her undergraduate studies at Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland. While working on a population-needs assessment project for her social work advocacy course she realized her love for macro-level social work, which led to her internship at Friendship Place in the Neighbor’s First pilot, now a thriving non-profit program for the homeless in Washington, DC.
In 2009, Ms. Smith moved back to Bermuda and began working with the island’s senior population at The National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged which has since been restructured as Ageing & Disability Services (ADS). In 2013, she obtained her Master’s Degree in Public Administration and in 2015 she was seconded to the role of Programme Manager for ADS. Whilst in this role she was responsible for oversight of the regulatory framework in place for providing support to the island’s residential care homes, better known as rest homes and nursing homes; functions which relied heavily on Ms. Smith’s ability to collaborate with key stakeholders and community partners, and research best practice standards for providing support to, and caring for, the aged and differently-abled populations. As Programme Manager at ADS, Ms. Smith was able to lead on a number of system improvements, one of her proudest achievements being the enhancement of the inspection processes and support for enhancement of our island’s care homes.
In 2019, Ms. Smith began to work with the Health Council’s Regulations Directorate which has embarked on strengthening aspects of its oversight of local health businesses and its support to improving the health system landscape.
