Children from gymnastics club Motions Unlimited impress the crowd at Saturday’s Heart Health Fair.
Norma Connolly
More than 300 people lined up to
find out their cholesterol and blood pressure numbers at free check-ups at a
heart health fair on Saturday.
The fair, attended by some 700
people, was part of a series of events hosted by the Cayman Heart Fund to get
the people of the Cayman Islands more in touch with the health of their hearts.
“We’re really pleased with the
turnout. We had people queuing up by 7.30am,” said Dr. Sook Yin, medical
director of the Cayman Heart Fund on Saturday, at the event in the Arts and
Recreation Centre at Camana Bay.
A packed hall watched presentations
and lectures by local and international medical specialists and marvelled at a
display of flexibility and agility by the kids from Motions Unlimited that had
many contemplating their own physical fitness, or lack thereof.
Attendees offered up their arms to 22
medical student volunteers from St. Matthew’s University’s School of Medicine
who took their blood samples, checked their blood pressure and generally acquainted
them with their “numbers”.
“We’ve really been trying to push
this in recent years, getting people to know their numbers – their cholesterol
profile, blood pressure and blood sugar,” said Dr. Sook.
Some 70 children and 250 adults
were screened at the event.
“Out of the 70 children that were
screened, 35 per cent were overweight and 20 per cent were obese. Pretty
frightening stats and that’s why we are supporting the Health4Youth programme,”
Dr. Sook said.
People flocked to stalls set up
throughout the hall, by drug company Pfizer, medical institute Johns Hopkins,
Baptist Health, St Matthews University, the Heart Health Centre, Chrissie
Tomlinson Memorial Hospital, Cayman Islands Diabetes Association, and the
Rotary Sunshine, among others.
The Red Cross was also on hand
Saturday to take blood donations and to sign up new donors.
Medical symposium
Several of those at stalls on
Saturday had also given presentations at a symposium at St. Matthews on
Thursday night, including Dr. Alvin Pettle of the Ruth Pettle Wellness Centre in
Toronto; Dr. Marcus St. John of Baptist Health South Florida; and Dr. Charles
Angell of Johns Hopkins Medicine in the US.
About 300 healthcare providers and
medical students turned up to listen to those presentations.
Red Dress Day
Dr. Pettle had also been the guest speaker at
a packed luncheon on Friday at the Westin Casaurina Resort and Spa where the
hotel’s Governor’s Ballroom was awash with red dresses and outfits worn by women
marking Red Dress Day.
During Red Dress Day, companies
were urged to encourage staff to wear red and donate $5 each to the Cayman
Heart Fund. Dr. Yin said about 15 companies and government agencies signed up.
One hundred women attended Friday’s
luncheon at which Dr. Pettle gave an informative presentation on the use of
natural hormone replacements versus the synthetic versions. The message was
clear - natural is best.
In his practice, he uses natural
bio-identical hormones, made from botanical plants such as soy and yams.
He also signed copies of his book,
Sexy Hormones.
For
more information on the Cayman Heart Fund, call 928-2366 or email mail@caymanheartfund.com.
