Maverley residents are expressing gratitude to a group of young professionals following a clinic in the community recently, which provided more than 100 children with dental, optical and general screening in time for them to return to school.
The Back to School Health Fair was organised by the Corporate Area-based Rotary Club of Trafalgar New Heights.
“Even though the health centre is free, most times you have to find the bus fare. Right here, you only paying $200. you get to see the doctor, eye specialist and dentist,” said Nicola Lyons, who took her five-year-old daughter to benefit from the subsidised health care.
“I had to also make sure that my neighbour and friends send their children,” she added.
It’s the sixth year the event was being held in the community, was hosted by The Source by JN Foundation.
“It saves me what I don’t have,” said Shalie Cooke, who has attended the event every year since its launch.
“My kids benefit from it. The money that I would spend to do all of this, I can use to do back-to-school shopping,” the mother of two boys, nine and 10 years old, remarked. She also took her friends’ children.
Club president Horace ‘Hugo’ Matthews, said good health is important if children are to learn effectively.
“Very often, a lot of the attention is placed on getting all the back-to-school supplies in order and parents sometimes don’t have the time or money to take their children to the doctor to ensure they are in good health before they go to school in September,” he said, underscoring the reason for the health fair’s focus on children, although he noted that general and optical screening were also made available to the elderly.
Volunteer private doctors and medical professionals from organisations such as the FISH Clinic, and community members, as well as volunteers from JN Foundation ACT!ON corps and the Maverley Police Youth Club, were on hand to help coordinate the event, which allowed residents to access a range of tests and checks.
Adults at the event also had access to small-business advice and product information from sponsor, JN Small Business Loans.
The event also received support from the Chase Fund, which provided the bulk of the financing for the project, along with JN Small Business Loans, as well as contributions from jerk food specialist, Scotchies, Consolidated Bakers, through its Purity brand, Nestle, Jazz Juices and Eyeland Eyewear.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20150901/maverly-children-benefit-back-school-health-fair
