Nanton launches ‘Operation Save our Sisters’ at Stubbs

A large female audience turned out at the Stubbs Playing Field for the launching of a project aimed at increasing awareness of the danger of cervical cancer, and methods of detection, treatment and prevention.{{more}}

The project, dubbed ‘Operation Save Our Sisters’, was spearheaded by Searchlight Senior Reporter Hawkins Nanton, as part of his course in Communication Analysis and Planning being taken at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus in Jamaica.

Nanton, working along with health workers in the community as well as the National Family Planning Association, will host a screening day for women in and around the Stubbs community on Wednesday, March 19, when women can receive pap tests; the method used for checking for changes in the cells of the cervix.



During his address, Nanton indicated that screening and testing should be taken seriously, since cervical cancer is the number one killer of Vincentian women, taking 58 lives between 1998 and 2005.

He identified the importance of women in the household, and the reason it is important for them to have regular pap tests, as well as other medical checks.

Nanton was joined by other speakers at the project launch encouraging women to get screened; these included area representative Glen Beache, Staff Nurse Beverly McNichols, Family Planning Director Naomi Prince, and Nanton’s lecturer, Jamaican Patrick Prendergrast.

The call was also made for men in the community to support their mothers, wives, girlfriends and daughters in the drive, as well as to get check ups themselves for male related diseases.

Sunday’s event also saw performances by national dance champions La Gracia Dancers and local entertainer Land Lord.

Nanton dedicated the project to the memory of his grandmother Catherine Bascombe, who died in 2000 of breast cancer. (JJ)