Nursing students offer health to Ladyville residents
The University of Belize’s Rural Health Nursing students made an early start in their careers of helping people. Today, the nurses in training offered a wide array of testing and health education to the Ladyville residents, all free of cost. It’s a part of their course and the students came to the Community Center ready and willing to work and the residents were rolling in by the dozen. News Five’s Delahnie Bain headed to Ladyville and got a first-hand look at what was being offered.
Delahnie Bain, Reporting
Students and other residents of Ladyville flocked to the community center to take advantage of free services being offered at today’s health fair. The event was organized by the Rural Health Nursing students of the University of Belize.
Alisha Solis, Rural Health Nursing Student, UB
“We are offering free services such as free pap smears, blood pressure check, glucose check, urinalysis, health education about hypertension, diabetes, cancer just to name a few. We also have the police department, the B.F.L.A., Cancer Society, the med lab students are here doing blood tests for triglycerides, cholesterol and as well your blood group. We also have the VCT offering free HIV testing and counseling.”
Amibelle Tablada, Rural Health Nursing Student, UB
“This is our health education booth. We are dealing with different diseases which we are educating about, we’re dealing with nutrition and the different types of food.”
Delahnie Bain
“What are some of the diseases?”
Amibelle Tablada
“HIV/AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis; all the STI infections and uterus infections such as vaginal discharges.”
Delahnie Bain
“You were also doing some testing over there. What’s that about?”
Amibelle Tablada
“That was the glucose testing. That is to determine how high is your blood level for sugar or diabetes. And then we’re doing high blood pressure testing to determine your blood pressure level if it’s high or low.”
Other organizations partnered with the students to offer additional services and information relating to illnesses including dengue and HIV/AIDS.
Kevin Neal, Public Health Inspector, Central Health Region
“Today we brought out from two units of the public health department. We have the vector control and the public health unit itself and we brought out some information and pamphlets and posters on the prevention of dengue, malaria, and also we have stuff that customers should not buy from shops; dented cans, bloated stuff, tampered expiration date and so forth.”
Bernadine Grinage, Ag Coord., Voluntary Counseling/Testing Center
“Over in that section we do the actual blood draw where we take just a little bit of blood, less than a teaspoon and its placed in a tube and then we do the actual test itself. The test itself will show if you are HIV positive or negative and it’s very accurate; more than ninety-nine percent accurate. And then you have pamphlets on the co-relation between tuberculosis and HIV because it has shown that if you have a co-infection like tuberculosis with HIV infection then the HIV disease progresses quicker.”
According to nursing student, Alisha Solis, the fair was their way of giving back to the community and judging from the crowd, they did just that. Delahnie Bain for News Five.
The fair ran from nine this morning to about three in the afternoon.
