For the first time under the umbrella of the Social Empowerment Agency (SEA), the Month of the Disabled health fair was hosted at its headquarters at Collymore Rock on Wednesday.
Dozens of people received free blood sugar, cholesterol, hypertension and glaucoma tests, along with informational seminars on mental health.
The health fair is a collaboration between drug maker Carlisle Laboratories and the Disabilities Unit, now part of the Social Empowerment Agency. Other private agencies also came on board, including the Diabetes and Hypertension Association of Barbados and Eventa Limited, which conducted the free health checks.
SEA acting director Wayne Nurse revealed that a major concern among persons with disabilities is the difficulty in accessing comprehensive healthcare.
“Persons with disabilities mentioned that it’s very expensive, but it’s expensive for any person to get certain checks and so on,” he said.
The fair was designed to help remove some of those financial barriers, he added
“At this particular health fair we’re actually doing glucose testing for free, diabetes checks, all sorts of health checks, but there will be no cost.”
Nurse also pointed to efforts to improve accessibility through the recently passed national disabilities policy.
“We’re going to see how we’re going to be improving accessibility so that persons with disabilities will be able to access healthcare just like anybody else,” said Nurse.
For Suzanne Harewood, who has lived with rheumatoid arthritis since the age of eight, events like these provide rare opportunities to access certain health services.
“Basic healthcare is free, but eye care, dental care and other things I have to pay for,” Harewood said. “For a person like me who doesn’t work, it’s kind of challenging. You want to get your teeth checked, you want to get your eyes checked, so you wait on different health checks to do that, in between those times, you do nothing.”
She hopes this will soon change, she said.
Ophthalmologist Dr Kendi Griffith, who was offering free glaucoma testing, cautioned about the dangers of the disease.
“Sometimes there will not be any warning signs. Glaucoma is a painless disease. It causes blindness in the advanced stages, but initially, you’re not aware that this vision loss is happening. The vision loss occurs on the outskirts, on the periphery, so you’re unaware that this vision loss is happening.”
She stressed the importance of regular screening, since symptoms are often not obvious.
“We’re doing a screening fair where we are checking pressures, which is a major risk factor for glaucoma. This is a painless procedure where we check the pressure. We use a probe to check the pressure at the front of the eye to determine whether or not there’s any risk factor for glaucoma.”
Medical Sales Representative with Aventa Limited, the company that now owns Carlisle Laboratories, Janelle Carrington-Greenidge, also stressed the importance of the health checks, noting that a significant percentage of Barbadians are affected by hypertension.
“Hypertension is called the silent killer because it really doesn’t have symptoms per se. In Barbados, between 39.9 to 43.9 per cent of Barbadians are hypertensive. It’s a really good rule of thumb to get your pressure tested whenever possible, just to make sure that you’re not in that category.”
She also noted that many Barbadians are at risk of developing diabetes.
“One in five Barbadians also lives with diabetes, and it can be hereditary. If you find that you’re exhausted a lot, you’re constantly thirsty, you’re running to the bathroom frequently, and you’re always hungry, these are some of the early signs, and you should get your blood sugar tested.”
Massage therapist and cosmetologist Donna Potthoff, added that therapeutic services can also support the well-being of persons with disabilities.
“I find massage is so beneficial to people with disabilities. It not only helps them physically, it also helps them mentally. It’s a form of relaxation for mind, body and soul, and it helps them to have that source of release.”
This year marks the third year the agencies have partnered to host the event.
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