GTM collaborates with GPHC to host health fair

May 10, 2012 News

Members of the public turned out in their numbers yesterday at the GTM

Scenes from yesterday’s health fair

Group of Insurance Companies, Hinck and Robb Streets, Georgetown office to benefit from a number of free health services.
The event was a health fair spearheaded by GTM in collaboration with the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and came as part of the continued observance of International Nurses’ Week.
The architect behind the collaboration was GTM’s Marketing Officer, Yasmin Bowman, who said that the move was initiated even as the insurance company was organising its activities for the year.
Although the officials of the company had embraced the hosting of a health fair it was recognised that a collaborated move would have been more impacting.
“So through our management team we decided that we would partner with the GPHC since they usually have a health fair every year for International Nurses’ Week…We decided we would approach them – the matron and the nursing staff at the GPHC and they were happy to come on board,” Bowman related.
GTM’s role in the collaboration was to meet the financial needs of the collaborative effort such as the provision of meals and the venue.
Aside from officials from the various departments of the public hospital who were busy delivering services from strategic booths at GTM yesterday, staffers from the Ministry of Health’s National AIDS Programme Secretariat were also part of the activity.
According to Bowman, “We are hoping to reach the general public that is why we had placed advertisements in the newspapers. We did brochures and we invited all of the various corporations around us; we targeted banks, the Guyana Revenue Authority, sister insurance companies, our own staff. We even did text blasts in an attempt to reach as many people as possible.”
Among the health services offered were blood pressure, blood glucose and HIV tests, body mass index (BMI) and dental checks, diabetic foot care and breast examinations as well as VIA and vision screening.
Clients were also afforded information on occupational health and safety.
Evidently satisfied with the results of the health fair, Bowman noted, “You can never tell the impact an activity can have on a community until you venture out into it…and so I am happy GTM engaged such an activity.”