00:00The Police Service Social and Welfare Association in partnership with Guardian Life, the Transit
00:06Police and Health Net Caribbean is rolling out a series of health fairs for officers.
00:12The first event ran from nine this morning to five in the afternoon at the Vemcot compound
00:18off the Beetham Highway. It comes in the wake of the sudden passing of Sergeant Narain last month.
00:24We lost an officer within the last six weeks or so, namely Sergeant Narain and we felt that
00:33because of the work we have done where welfare is concerned and it often went unnoticed that it was
00:41pivotal that we come out and get our officers to come and check their numbers because Mr. Narain,
00:49we saw each other on the 23rd of August and on the 24th of August he died suddenly just so
00:55and checking one numbers is important for us to be able to ensure that you are in a good place
01:04and a good space and you're on top of your health game. Association President Gideon Dixon said too
01:11many officers are succumbing to lifestyle diseases and the initiative is designed to change that.
01:17I think we'll be able to capture a lot a lot of our officers who have often succumb to lifestyle
01:25diseases. It showed up a lot during the pandemic and at this juncture here as an association we have
01:32to take a pivotal and a frontal attack in terms of trying to get our officers within the right mindset
01:39and the right body conditions to be able to do the rigor of the job that we do on a daily basis.
01:45Police hospital doctor Brad Sahadio said the most common conditions he sees are diabetes and
01:53hypertension at the institution. We are rampant, we are rampant with chronic diseases, diabetes and
01:58hypertension. Those are the two major, major illnesses we see at the facility. All right and we encourage
02:04officers to come and get your numbers, know your numbers, initiate early treatment so we could
02:09prevent complications later on, prevent that ultimatum. Guardian Life's agent for the association,
02:16Debbie Ann Mohammed said prevention is key. Our motto I would say in Guardian when it comes to health
02:24is your health is your wealth and we are promoting wellness. So by having preventative screening is only
02:30then we could prevent what happens down the road. And I want my police officers to be healthy and strong,
02:36go out there, do their job to the best. The association says it will lobby for formal health
02:41policy within the police service and plans to take the fair to every policing division in the country.
02:49Today's event was well attended and the association is encouraging officers to participate when the
02:55health fair reaches their districts and that it intends to reach all of the 10 policing divisions
03:01in this country. Alexander Broussoul, TV6 News.
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