NASSAU, The Bahamas — Members of the Nurses Association of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas (NACB) will provide free blood pressure and blood glucose screenings to members of the general public on Saturday, May 21.
The screenings will take place at the Robin Hood Outlet on Tonique Williams-Darling Highway from 9am to 4pm.
NACB President, Nurse Persephone Munnings, said the screenings are part of the association’s bid to “expand our health education and awareness programmes by taking them out of the clinics, hospitals and healthcare facilities and into the areas most frequented by locals.”
She said the free screenings will allow the nurses to check locals for a number of chronic, non-communicable diseases such as hypertension which is known as the “Silent Killer’ and diabetes.
“Chronic, non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease are very prevalent in today’s society and impact a large percentage of our population,” Nurse Munnings said.
“There are large numbers of Bahamians walking around with hypertension, who may not even know that they are hypertensive until it is too late. That is why it is called the ‘Silent Killer’ as by the time it becomes apparent that the person was hypertensive, is after they have suffered a stroke, or have died as a result of complications from the illness.
“The same can be said of persons who may be diabetic and are not aware of their condition. These free screenings will help us to identify those persons who have one or more of these chronic, non-communicable diseases and help them to get the necessary treatment,” Nurse Munnings added.
Nurse Munnings said early the detection of chronic, non-communicable diseases (CNCDs) is essential in the fight against CNCDs which are preventable and are treatable once caught early. She encouraged Bahamians to get regular health check-ups.
“Early detection is very crucial in our bid to reduce the amounts of persons with CNCDs which are treatable and will not get better without proper treatment, without proper education,” she said.
“Bahamians are going about their daily activities not aware that they have these conditions – hypertension, diabetes, heart disease – and only through screening, or when the disease has advanced so far, that they suddenly fall ill and find that their conditions are worse than it could have been if they had gotten early treatment – that they are aware they have it.
“Once caught early enough, however, persons can get the proper treatment and can make the correct changes to their diets in order to improve their situation. Getting regular health checks is a great way of ensuring early detection,” she added.
Nurse Munnings said poor diets and sedentary lifestyles “put many Bahamians at risk of developing the diseases.” She admonished parents to ensure that their children have “active lifestyles.”
“We have to start teaching our children from a young age that they have to eat healthy; that they have to be more active; that they have to get more exercise and the best way for us as adults to get that message across is by modelling that type of behaviour to our kids,” Nurse Munnings added.
By Matt Maura
Bahamas Information Services
