Spring Village residents rally against Cervical Cancer

Staff nurse Oneikah Sergeant-Richards is on a campaign to save lives.

“As with most illnesses, early detection and treatment can save lives, so the same rules apply to Cervical Cancer”, the nurse attached to the Spring Village Health Centre said last week Thursday.{{more}}

She was speaking at a march and rally organized by the clinic’s staff and the area’s Hypertensive and Diabetic Group. Sergeant-Richards urged women to take Pap Smears, which are available at the clinic on a daily basis.

The march began in Charles Village in the lower part of Spring Village and culminated at the playing field. During the march, brochures and flyers were handed out to villagers.

Ninety-year-old Elaine Stephens said that she joined the march so that the young people would take example and get themselves checked, while 87-year-old Almina Stephens told SEARCHLIGHT that she had her womb removed in 1962, “So I am aware of the importance of getting check-ups and testing,” she said.

Orlscinda Williams said that he joined the march to support the women, “I don’t want them to wait until it’s too late”, he said. Williams also said that he is encouraging men to get tested for prostate cancer: “Men always like to keep back behind”, he said.

According to the National Family Planning Programme in the Ministry of Health and the Environment, cancer of the cervix is a major cause of sickness and death in the Caribbean and the most common type of cancer found in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

Staff nurse Sergeant-Richards told SEARCHLIGHT that each clinic within the district has to do a project from time to time, hence her clinic chose to focus on cervical cancer. She said so far, 45 women have taken the test with 21 of them being tested in that week alone.

Sergeant-Richards also said that the biggest drawback to the programme is the length of time it takes for the results of the tests to return to the clinic. Vaginal swabs are taken at the clinic then sent to the laboratory in Kingstown. So far there has been no alarming result from the clinic. (AC)