Dear all:

It has been more than three weeks now since Drs. Lynn, Norman and Eng, along with their wives, graciously volunteered to conduct a health fair at the women's center. It was a wonderful learning experience for all of us, and we have a much better idea now about the sort of health issues that are of greatest concern in Treasure Beach. We were pleasantly suprprised to see so many women step forward for pap smears, which is a very important test for cervical cancer that we women all need to have once a year if possible. After 40 kits we ran out--but next time we will have more! There were a lot of skin ailments, and problems with high blood sugar. All of the tissue samples that the doctors cut or scraped off were tested here in the U.S., and fortunately nobody tested positive for skin cancer! Individual test reults are available from the women's group, sealed in confidential envelopes.

We would like to thank all of the ladies from the women's group who gave us so much help, especially Celeste Anderson who was the primary organizer of the event, and our incredibly hard-working volunteer nurses, Sofia Grant, Claudette Moxam, Antonette Bell and Lillian James. Also thanks to Susan Ebanks for working with us for two days to run the center, as well as Vivette Taylor for her inspiration and prayer, Elonie Taylor, Dawn Moxam, Veda Ebanks and Lucy Ebanks and Modesta Baker for feeding and taking care of us! Thank you thank you!

Also thanks to the Henzells for hosting the doctors during a lovely evening at Jake's, to Rebecca for a multitude of things (as usual), and to Alteman Graham for driving us around and contributing to our planning sessions. Once again, Treasure Beach has shown itself to be a very special place with a real sense of community spirit, and we feel fortunate to have been involved with the community over the past nine years.

We are planning future health fairs that we hope will be bigger and better, with more types of testing and hopefully a Jamaican doctor available to write prescriptions. We would welcome any comments or suggestions to improve the process in the future, and we look forward to seeing everyone again soon!

Best wishes, Janet and Erik MacPeek

Everything sounds great. Just wondering if one of the Doctors could volunteer to visit the elderly at their homes, who are unable to come and especially wait for so long. Usually these are bed-ridden etc. The checks could include the usual blood pressure checks and any other necessary tests.
These persons are usually forgotten during forums like these. It would make a great difference!! Something to think about!!

What a wonderful idea. At the moment, it looks like a longer health fair is in the works, with more supplies, more equipment, more tests, more volunteers, and more days! Probably from around July 6th through July 10th. Is there a person or organization who could suggest some people to be visited, or could some of the names and addresses be emailed to the women's group? One day might be dedicated to in-home visits, if the doctors think this is feasible or a good idea...let me know!