By Robert Andre Emmanuel
Chrysean Jarvis, the Youth Member of Parliament (MP) for St John’s Rural South, received plaudits from parents, children and members of the public as the Rural South Health Expo encouraged students enjoy the benefits and enjoyment of health and wellness as they head back to school in two weeks.
The Health Expo, which occurred on Sunday, saw members of the AIDS Secretariat, MOS Medical Centre, the Medical Benefits Scheme and other health organisations come together to offer young people free health check-ups, including blood pressure and cholesterol checks, dental and eye care.
Cody Pilgrim from Courts Optical told Observer media about the event organised by Jarvis.
“For a young person, I must admit that this is a big initiative that he’s taking on. With all the different health-related issues going on right now, this is a perfect opportunity for persons to come out and actually get themselves tested for the various non-communicable diseases that exist, such as hypertension and diabetes,” he said.
Members of the National Youth Parliament Association of Antigua and Barbuda (NYPAAB) , parents, children, and the Parliamentary representative for the area, Daryll Matthew highly commended Jarvis for putting the expo together.
“When he spoke to me about it some time back, I was very impressed with the fact that you don’t see a lot of young people taking the initiative to organise events and to put on worthwhile activities in the community,” MP Matthew said.
“And events like this where you have to pull together several different groups, market, bring in the media, it is a lot of work and so when that initiative is taken by our young people, particularly our young men.”
Attendees, including MP Matthew, also participated in a socarobics session and an obstacle course with members of the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force (ABDF).
According to one member of the ABDF, “for this, it is to bring out more young people so that they can be amongst their peers and to see that they only don’t have to really resort to violence but they can be together, be one with their peers and excel themselves so that they can see exactly where they are going back to school, [in terms of] physical education, everything else that is concerned.”
A very elated Jarvis also shared his excitement immediately after the health expo.
“Man, I feel great; I rate the Rural South Back-to-School Health Expo a 10 out of 10 and I put in the work, was resilient, communicated and it is something that I really appreciate all the stakeholders in Antigua and Barbuda, because without them, this wouldn’t be possible.
“I’m really happy for the turnout and the kids really enjoyed it,” he said.
Children, who also received back to school supplies and other goods, told Jarvis during our interview that they hope that another health expo would be planned in the future.
“I have a passion for health and with me being the Youth MP for St John’s Rural South, this is one of my first initiative.
“It was an issue that I recognise within the constituency, something that isn’t really paid keen attention to because, oftentimes, persons may not have the financial resources to go to a doctor to do a health check, and it’s very important that they use get an opportunity to do so,” Jarvis added.
