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Burdened by economic and security problems, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller reached out for more help from one of Jamaica's traditional allies.
Simpson Miller tapped her long time friend United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for additional support and the US has responded positively.
Clinton last week sent a seven-member delegation including representatives of the US Departments of State, Justice, and Treasury, and the United States Agency for International Development to Jamaica for talks with government officials.
The team met with officials from the Ministries of National Security, Finance, Education, and Industry, Investment, and Commerce.
"It is just a matter of making sure we are being responsive to the needs of Jamaica and the needs that the government itself prioritises," head of the delegation Julissa Reynoso, US Deputy Assistant Secretary in charge of Western Hemisphere affairs told select journalists last week.
"Obviously, in a world where there are limited resources, we want to make sure that we are targeting our assistance and our support in the most immediate and impactful ways as identified by the government itself," added Reynoso.
With the commitment from the US to offer additional support to the Simpson Miller administration, Reynoso was quick to deny that this represents a thawing of the relationship between Kingston and Washington following a stand-off with the former Bruce Golding administration over the extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
"No we had a very good relationship with the Jamaican authorities, at least as far as I remember, and definitely during my tenure, we had a very fruitful and constructive dialogue and relationship with Prime Minister (Bruce) Golding's government," said Reynoso
"We are very much looking forward to having a very good and constructive relationship with this government," added Reynoso.
But Reynoso was clear that the government and people of Jamaica would have to play their part to get the country out of the present crisis.
"We are very much interested in seeing Jamaica grow ... but we also understand that not only the government but the people are going to have to make sacrifices."
In January 2010, Reynoso - then the most senior US official to visit Jamaica after the election of Barack Obama - had made it clear that the Americans would not back down on the extradition request for Coke.
This was in the middle of a stand-off as Jamaican government officials led by Golding claimed that Coke's constitutional rights would be breached if he was extradited.
As the stand-off continued, Golding was to issue his now famous line, "constitutional rights do not begin at Liguanea," which is where the US Embassy in Kingston is based.
Golding later said the quip was not referencing the US Embassy although the frosty relationship between the two capitals was obvious.
Under pressure locally and internationally, the Golding administration finally signed the extradition request.
Coke later pleaded guilty to two charges in the US and is to be sentenced on Friday with US officials requesting a more than 20-year prison sentence.
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