STUDENTS from as far as Clarendon joined hundreds of Dinthill Technical High pupils at their annual two-day health fair in St Catherine last week Thursday, which saw them benefiting from free back-to-school medicals.

Hosted by the Florida chapter of Dinthill’s past students’ association, the health fair — now in its fourth year — has expanded “significantly”.

According to mission coordinator, Margaret Watt Walker, last week’s staging saw an increased number of volunteers and health care professionals because of the growing need for the services offered, which included medical, dental, and eye examinations.

Prescriptions were also given for eyeglasses, which will be made in Miami, Florida, and delivered to students later this year, she said.

The services that were usually offered exclusively to ‘Dinthillites’ were last year extended to 200 students from Guy’s Hill High School. For this year’s staging of the event, the organisers went much farther and opened up the fair to all the students from neighbouring Charlemont High, 40 student athletes from Clarendon College, and to students from neighbouring churches.

“I am really excited to be here again and it is going great,” Watt Walker told the Jamaica Observer. “Seventy-two of us are here from all over the United States, it’s our largest contingent — much bigger than last year’s — and most of the people here are new. We are prepared to cater to at least 2,000 students.”

Medical director of the mission, Dinthill past student Dr Cyrus McCalla, who is an obstetrician-gynaecologist, said it has been an honour for the team to give back to the school community.

“This medical mission is a labour of love. I came on board about four years ago, and I’ve been the medical director of this mission since then. There’s a tremendous need; these are students without funds for preventative care, so what we do, we offer ophthalmology care, dental care, as well as medical care.

“And while we are doing that, [we] screen students to approve them for return to school. We do pick up illnesses in kids that we’re able to refer to local physicians, for example, kids with diabetes, with depression who need long-term follow-up, we see those kids and we make the referral through the school nurses and some of the local doctors in that area,” he said.

First-time volunteer, ophthalmologist Dr Carla Osigian, who works at the University of Miami, told the Observer that the experience is “really gratifying”.

“I was invited to be part of this mission and I accepted because I am interested in doing volunteer work,” Osigian said.

Another volunteer, Dr Sarah Grace, who headed the mission’s ophthalmology team, said she was equally happy to be part of the mission and to assist.

“First time here (in Jamaica) and it won’t be my last. People are so friendly. And like the school is amazing. Meeting all of the alumni of the school and seeing what good, kind, and successful people they are that keep coming back to do this, is really impressive,” she said.

Other volunteers who have been participating in the mission since its inception noted that there was no greater feeling than seeing the gratitude in the eyes of those who they’ve assisted.

Vice-president of the Jamaican Nurses’ Association, New York chapter, Dr Beverly Allen, for her part, said: “I say to people from the diaspora all the time, it’s good to send money and you know, people talk about sending money, but it’s not the same to come back here and to personally give our all.

“That smile on each person’s face, nothing can compare to that,” she added.

Meanwhile, parents and guardians who were seen patiently waiting in lines with their children to take advantage of the medical services expressed gratitude and appreciation for the well-organised event and for the quality service their children received.

Repeat beneficiary Elizabeth Rose, who brought her two sons — an eighth-grader and a fifth-former, both attending Dinthill Technical High — said: “I come here all the time and I am very happy with how the doctors operate. Me like how the doctors dem test; even when you go pay yuh money dem nuh do so much sum’n. Anything do dem, yuh wi know.”

Second-time beneficiary Sitare Bailey, the mother of an eighth-grader, said the medical mission has been very helpful.

“You don’t have to pay. They are doing a very good thing for the community and the doctors are easy to talk to,” she told Observer.

Vanisa McKenna, who took her niece to the health fair, said: “Otherwise from waiting long, I am very grateful for it because it saves us money which we can use to help buy books.”

Besides the free medical services that were offered, the school’s home economics department also received a donation of five sewing machines, a cooler, a six-burner stove, as well as US$500 from the New York Chapter of the past students’ association.

Past president of the Dinthill Technical High School Alumni Association, Charmaine Golding, said along with the donations to shore up the home economics department, the chapter is also planning to start a project to pump water from the nearby Rio Cobre to fill 10 one-gallon tanks on the school premises to be used, as needed. This, she said, would be done in the new school year.

In the meantime, Dinthill’s acting Principal Monica White commended the efforts of the alumni and told the Observer that she was proud of the work they have been doing.

“This is another of those milestone days for us, the medical mission is on in earnest courtesy of the Florida chapter and I think all the chapters know we are happy they are here making that contribution, and we are grateful as usual — the students and parents,” she said.