Over one hundred people visited to take part in the Medical Outreach facilitated by the Rotary Club of Princes Town at the Princes Town Mall.
The event is one of several outreach clinics the Club holds annually and is primarily aimed at providing our communities with free services that may otherwise be too costly to achieve. Coordinator of the event and Rotary Service Projects Director and District Health Visitor, Princes Town and Ste Madeleine Miranda Ramjattan, explained “Your health is your wealth.
Unfortunately, there are many people who may live too far from public health facilities or may not be able to seek professional services for one reason or another. She further stated that in celebration of World Polio Day on October 24th the Rotary Club of Princes Town ensured that Polio awareness was conducted by the qualified nurses to ensure that those children without vaccination can come into the health centres and receive protection from this serious disease.
With the help of our partners the South West Regional Health Authority, Williamsville Health Centre, SeeVu Optical, Park View Drugs, Health and Fitness Gym, AeroPharmTT Pharmacy and Life Time smiles and our 21 wonderful volunteers we were able to bring these services to people from Princes Town and environs. Feedback from patients made the members of our club happy when they learnt they were from areas such as Williamsille, Garth Road, Barrackpore, Lothians Road, Hope Road, Buen Intento and various other areas. Persons receiving free eye screening were given special attention with advanced equipment from our qualified optical team from See Vu Optical. Our dental team provided all patients with free dental advice, product sampling and checkups from professional staff courtesy Life Time Smiles dental clinic. Their fun “Spin the Wheel” game drew quite a lot of attention from the members of public who won lovely prizes answering important dental health questions.
The services offered at this outreach event included: dental examinations, eye testing, blood sugar testing, Flu Shots and Tetanus Shots. Park View Pharmacy and Aero Pharm TT provided free pharmaceutical tablets, ointments, vitamins, dental and doctor’s consultations. Dir. Ramjattan added, “Thanks to the SWRHA we were able to provide free vaccinations today. Something we are proud of considering the how bad this flu season appears to be.” But the flu wasn’t the only health issue addressed. Some patients were informed after medical consultations to seek additional help as they learned that they are possibly diabetic and would need further testing. That’s why these screenings are important. If identified early diabetes can be managed to prevent major health issues such as heart and kidney damage. Our two on site doctors Dr. Sayeed Abdool and Dr. Travis Ramlal provided these patients with professional healthcare and further referrals as needed.
Our fitness expert Director Villon Stanley provided Body Mass Index analysis and health advice to patrons as well as distributed free water sponsored by Quench and Paani water. Advice was given to the public on Men’s health and cancer awareness by way of cancer ribbons distributed to members of the public. Onsite student nurse Brianna Alexander of the University of the Southern Caribbean also provided much needed nursing advice to patients as well as assisted greatly in screening of patients.
The day was filled with smiles and good cheer as dozens of persons flowed through the different stations for advice and medication. Children were treated to clown shows, face painting and free balloons and entertainment was provided by way of Steelpan, East Indian dances and live violin music. Our team was also complimented by the various Princes Town entrepreneurs who visited the medical themselves and were impressed with the work of the Rotary Club of Princes Town.
The Club President Andrea Bhagwandeen thanked the members of the Rotary Club of Princes Town and our various partners who made the day’s event a success.