The Guyana Watch team… US doctors commence medical outreach 2008

(Saturday July 19)

Members of the 2008 Guyana Watch Team

A whooping 415 persons were examined and treated yesterday by the Guyana Watch team of medical doctors when the organization hosted its first clinic at the Timehri Government School .
Five of those treated were referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GHPC) because of the seriousness of their conditions.
The 14-member team of doctors, supported by 18 staff, arrived in Guyana yesterday morning and immediately began the clinic at Timehri.
Patients from Santa Mission and surrounding communities in the Demerara River were provided with transportation to facilitate their visit to the clinic.
Dr. Partha Chatterjee, one of the pediatricians, told Kaieteur News that most of the children he examined had upper respiratory infections and skin rashes.

Dr. Patty Vitale cleaning a child's ear yesterday

Other complaints were poor appetite, failure to gain weight, and the common cold.
Diabetes and hypertension were the common sicknesses among adults, Dr. Craig Mochson said.
“There were a number of persons with diabetes and hypertension. What was nice was that we were able to offer some more education to the population at the clinic to make them aware of the importance of taking care of their bodies,” Dr. Mochson said.
But even as the doctors tended to the many persons accumulated at the clinic, there were those who were complimenting the fast and efficient service that they received.
“This is the first time I coming to the clinic and I would recommend anyone to come let the doctor look after them,” one Timehri resident said.
He added that he has diabetes and is grateful for the free medication that he has received.
Paul Chattersingh, another resident from the area, said that it is not often that persons can afford a full medical and as such praised the Guyana Watch team for the initiative.
Like Dr. Mochson, Dr. James Sadock also treated a number of persons for diabetes and high blood pressure.
He said that many of the women he examined had pregnancy issues and irregular bleeding.
According to the doctor, the patients he spoke with yesterday are clearly lacking the resources to visit a doctor often and as such are practising unhealthy lifestyles.
Education about basic diseases is also lacking.
Many of the patients with whom he spoke said that they do not have a specific doctor for their regular checkups.
As the medial doctors finished the day's session, dentist Chiran Reddy was still busy extracting and cleaning teeth.
He told Kaieteur News that persons are not ‘taking care of their oral hygiene'. A number of those whom he saw yesterday had decaying teeth.
Reddy added that this was mainly among children.
Parents, he added, are responsible for the things they eat.
Children, Reddy said, are fascinated by candies and sweet things but parents need to control their habits.
“To pull out your teeth you have to pay at least $2,500 so I come with my children. Guyana Watch doing a good thing and I must say thanks to them,” another resident commented.
Meanwhile, President of GWI, Tony Yassin, yesterday announced that the team will also be screening children with heart problems.
He is encouraging parents to take completed medicals to anyone of the Guyana Watch clinics, which will be held countrywide, for further evaluation.
Yassin added that yesterday's activity was conducted without any disruptions.
He complimented the team for conducting the clinic shortly after the long flight from New York yesterday.
At yesterday's outreach, toothbrushes and toothpaste were distributed to the children who were examined by the dentist.
The team is currently conducting its 16th annual outreach programme to Guyana .
In 2007 Guyana Watch saw 3025 patients and supplied more than US$275,000 in medication.
The team also sent four children for heart surgery at the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, West Chester Medical Center , New York . (A Kaieteur News Story by Tusika Martin )

July 23

Guyana Watch team finds… Guyanese ignore their health

As the Guyana Watch medical team continues the outreach programme across the country, it is becoming more obvious that Guyanese are not taking care of their health. This is according to the visiting doctors, who yesterday visited the Essequibo Coast , where they conducted a clinic at Aurora Village .
During that clinic, 265 persons were examined and treated by the team of visiting doctors.
However, each of the doctors had the same story to tell about the large number of persons suffering from diabetes and hypertension.
Dr. Mariela Glandt was so surprised that she told Kaieteur News that if she had to sum up her patients in one word, that word would be ‘shocking.'

“I find that the persons at this particular clinic have more serious diabetes and high blood pressure than the previous clinics…they need to change their diet and lifestyle,” the Internal Medicine doctor said.
Persons living along the Essequibo Coast were lined up at Aurora Primary School even before the doctors arrived yesterday morning.
Despite the doctors' unhappiness with the lack of care that persons were exhibiting, residents were in high praise of the outreach. 
“This is a good thing. Is years now I coming here,” one resident said.
Others expressed their gratitude to the Guyana Watch Inc. executives, who according to them are working hard to ‘help out' persons of meagre means.
“I am not saying that we ain't get hospitals and suh on the Coast, but this thing that them people this doing is a good thing. Me can't afford to go to the dentist to pull out a teeth. Is nuff money,” Esther Persaud of Anna Regina Housing Scheme said.

She told this newspaper that she travelled from Anna Regina to Aurora Village, some 40 minutes' drive, in order to get a free medical check-up.
“Me old, you know, and suh me got to make ends meet; me can't afford to pay for everything,” the 66-year-old woman said.
The pediatricians, like the other doctors, also had a day filled with fungal infections and skin rashes among the children they examined.
Chatting and sharing out stickers to the children, the three pediatricians on the team encouraged parents to take better care of their kids.
“Persons are eating a lot of starchy foods — rice and noodles are all going to cause problems for diabetes. There is also a lot of smoking,” Dr. Heather Mahoney told this newspaper.
She noted that she, too, encouraged her patients to try more substitute ways of cooking the very foods that they eat regularly.
Like the other clinics, toothpaste and brushes were distributed to the children that visited the clinics.
Meanwhile, President of GWI, Tony Yassin, is again encouraging parents with children who have heart aliments to visit any one of the clinics.
Parents are required to take completed medicals when they visit the clinics.
The team is currently conducting its 16th annual outreach programme.
In 2008/2009, Guyana Watch projects to assist at least 25 children for heart surgeries.
The team will be at Wales Primary School today. (A Kaieteur News Story by Tusika Martin )

July 24

Guyana Watch visits Port Mourant

Numerous children among the patients

Among the 556 patients that took advantage of the Guyana Watch team being in Port Mourant, Berbice yesterday, were some 192 children. The Guyana Watch medical team is continuing the outreach programme, which has been taking the visiting doctors to all corners of coastal Guyana , treating numerous persons for various types of ills and ailments.
The Guyana Watch medical team has a dentist, two emergency room specialists, three paediatricians and eight family doctors. These specialists are supplemented by numerous local volunteers who are each contributing to the mission and work of Guyana Watch.
The Guyana Watch team brought, and has been distributing over US $300, 000 worth of medication.

There were other common illnesses, among them skin rashes and mobile disorders. There were also 47 dental cases. From the cases seen yesterday, an additional five patients will be requiring advanced surgery and will need to seek overseas assistance.
The heart transplant patient from last year also came to the Port Mourant Primary School for a follow up. According to doctors, the patient has recovered well and has shown significant improvement. 
Residents of Port Mourant and surrounding areas — some people coming from as far as New Amsterdam and Skeldon — took advantage of the presence of the medical team.
While some of the cases were referred to physicians in Georgetown , most patients were presented with medication and consultation, free of cost.

There is a public hospital in Port Mourant. Some of the patients explained that while they seek the services of that hospital, they have more faith and trust in the overseas doctors.
Some of the patients explained that they had come to see the Guyana Watch Team for a second opinion. One such case was recounted by the mother of a young child, who has not been able to walk since birth.
The toddler's mother explained that she had taken the child to see various doctors in different parts of Berbice and Georgetown only to find that the child is still unable to walk.
The Guyana Watch doctors dispensed supplements to the child and referred him to another doctor, who is apparently not in the country at the moment.
The child's mother explained that she felt very much enthused after the Guyana Watch doctor had seen her son, and noted that she would take her child to see the doctor to whom her son has been referred.

Numerous people also took advantage of the free blood pressure and blood sugar monitoring tests which the outreach clinic provided. These tests were carried out by some of the Guyana Watch volunteers, as the specialists were busy tending to the other patients.
Meanwhile, many of the Guyana Watch specialists have taken a liking to Guyana and are enthusiastic about returning next year, if they are invited back as part of the programme.
At the same time, the residents of the Port Mourant and Berbice areas were pleased with the presence of the medical team and said that outreach programmes like Guyana Watch were good because without them many people living in the area would not have access to such good healthcare, at such a subsidised cost. (A Kaieteur News Story by Tusika Martin )