US medical team wraps up one week medical outreach programme

Jul 06, 2009 News

An overseas based group in collaboration with Food for the Poor Guyana, All God’s Children Foundation and Deskan Institute and Training, on Friday last wrapped up a successful medical mission.
According to Head of the Mission, Dr. Claudette Heyliger Thomas, during the exercise, the team saw in excess of 800 patients who were treated for various ailments.
However, Dr. Thomas said the team was overwhelmed with hypertension and diabetes complaints.
She added that during their clinics at Parika and Fort Wellington, they made several referrals to the Georgetown Public Hospital and all were severe cases of hypertension and diabetes, which were detected in the late stages.
Dr. Thomas said she found that one of the major problems in the communities they visited is the fact that persons are not educated about health issues.
“Many of the persons we saw were not even aware of some of the early signs to look for in the types of diabetes and more so what diabetes is,” Dr. Thomas said.
She said she hopes that the Ministry of Health will continue to raise awareness on these illnesses in communities like those they visited. Meanwhile, Dr. Thomas said the entire trip was fulfilling and in her opinion, the team gained more from the people they were able to assist.
She said it was a very heart warming experience to be able to reach out to so many people and to be able to meet their needs.
The team arrived one week ago and began their outreach programme on two Sundays ago with a Continuing Medical Education training programme for some of their local counterparts. The training session was facilitated by Dr. Ralph Rudy who is a Nose, Ear and Throat specialist.  Following that, the team paid a visit to the Georgetown Public Hospital’s Maternity Ward where they presented mothers and expecting mothers with gifts for their babies.
On Monday, the team visited Parika where they held a two day medical outreach programme and on Thursday and Friday clinics were held at the Fort Wellington Hospital.