By Theresa Goodwin
“We had a cranky start, but at end of the day we recorded success.” This was the sentiment expressed by Chairperson of the Health Committee for the Lions Club of Antigua, Jacintha Pringle, as the club celebrated another successful year of its flagship annual prostate screening exercise.
The programme provides an opportunity for men, 40 years and over, to benefit from free prostrate examinations as the non-profit organisation joins the global fight against cancer and encouraging the male population to pay keen attention to their health.
According to Pringle, the exercise which was held in collaboration with Urologist Dr Dwayne “Baba” Thwaites and several other supporting partners, got underway from about 6 am on Saturday at the Lion’s Den.
By the end of the day, 976 men were screened for prostate and other health checks provided by the Medical Benefits Scheme (MBS) and other medical partners who were also on the ground.
“We were hoping that we could have screened about 1,000 men; unfortunately we did not hit that mark. But, at the end of the day the final count was 976 men. For that we are grateful and we are very thankful the Antigua and Barbuda Social Security Scheme and MBS who are our main sponsors and indeed all the other sponsors,” Pringle said.
She also stated that the men who benefited from the free exercise were equally grateful.
“The men who were screened seemed very happy that they were able to get their health checks and the members of the Lions Club are very happy that they did,” Pringle added.
She also expressed gratitude to the thousands of volunteers and club members who made the event a success and promised that improvements will be made going forward for the future benefit of all stakeholders.