THE Blue Mountain Seventh-day Baptist Church in rural Manchester is being lauded as a good Samaritan after last month’s hosting of a health and wellness fair for members of the community and its environs.

The church’s evangelistic arm organised the event during a week-long outreach activity, dubbed Community Week, which was aimed at holistically enriching the community.

People attending the fair, which was hosted at the community centre, received free health tests and nutrition counselling courtesy of the Ministry of Health and Wellness as well as health-related information and tips and dental screenings, which were provided by other public and private organisations.

The event followed the health ministry’s Know Your Numbers islandwide tour stop in Manchester, where the portfolio minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, underscored the initiative’s role in helping to identify cases of life-threatening diseases or people at risk by “making it easier and more attractive to people to simply walk off the street [and] to come and get checked instead of going to a health centre”.

Chair of the health fair’s committee, Cassandra Bell-Dawkins, said the team shared sentiments similar to Dr Tufton’s in terms of making the services provided easily accessible to the public.

“This event was mainly to serve the community in a tangible way to ensure that they [had] enough information and access to medical services that are usually outside of their reach,” she said.

“This time of the year was chosen because it was close to the back-to-school period, [also] persons are just coming out of [the] Hurricane Beryl [experience]. So it became necessary for us to allow them to have access to free medical checks,” Bell-Dawkins said.

Youth coordinator on the committee, Aisha Simpson, said there was a notable turnout of youth at the fair, while underscoring the importance of events like this for young people.

“As youth we think that sickness can’t come so suddenly… but anything can happen at any point. So it is important that we know what is happening in our bodies and how we can correct it from now while we are young,” she told
JIS News.

Simpson, who is a school teacher, underscored the need for “students to do their medicals”, pointing out that events, like the health fair, are “really beneficial because they don’t have to pay the money to do so”.

Meanwhile, the church’s leader, Dr Rose-Marie Wilson, said they believe in taking care of the entire person.

“It is not just about spiritual well-being for us, as a church. We believe that physical well-being [and] mental well-being are absolutely critical,” she said.

“Providing information about the [Government of Jamaica’s health] services that are available to persons in a community setting, because not everybody is able to go out into the town… bringing it closer [to] home is a part of the missional agenda of our church,” said Dr Wilson.

A resident of Blue Mountain, Clavia Williams, said the health fair was well-supported, pointing out that this and other similar activities are extremely important for community development.

She maintained that people who may be apprehensive to go elsewhere to do the necessary check-ups may feel more comfortable when the services are being offered in their community.

The health fair was supported by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Jamaica Fire Brigade, Jamaica Information Service, Pioneer Chocolate Company, Baking Enterprise Limited, Abby’s Frosty Creations, and Jamaica Standards Products Company.