Rotary to provide medical care for schoolchildren

Primary schoolchildren in St. Vincent and the Grenadines between the ages of 5 – 12 years will be given the opportunity to obtain medical treatment with the implementation of a critical screening process during the week of October 29 to November 5. {{more}}

A partnership involving the Rotary Club of St. Vincent South, the Rotary Club of Bequia, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and a team of Cardiologists from the International Hospital for Children (IHC) in Virginia, USA, will pool their resources to complete the much-needed Rheumatic Heart Disease Screening Programme at various Primary Schools throughout St. Vincent and the Grenadines and at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital.

Over the past three years, the Rotary Club of St. Vincent South has been sending children from St. Vincent and the Grenadines to Virginia for major medical procedures, many of which involve major heart surgery. It is out of observations of this Programme that the medical team from the IHC has decided to be proactive in sending this team of Cardiologists to St. Vincent and the Grenadines to screen as many children as possible to allow for informed planning by the Health Authorities to minimize this ailment by our young children.

The team will visit Mustique on Sunday, Bequia on Monday and St. Vincent Tuesday – Friday, when they are expected to screen over 500 children of Primary School age.

The screening process will be a simple one using an Echocardiogram which is non-intrusive and analogons (similar to) an ultrasound of the chest.

The IHC team will include regular visitors to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. William Moskowitz and Susan Rickman.