PHILIPSBURG:--- The “8th Annual Lion Rudy Hoeve Health & Wellness Fair” organized by the St. Maarten Lions Club on Saturday, March 5th 2016 at the Festival Village can once again be termed a great success. Lions Health & Wellness Fair Organizer Lion Wally Havertong stated; “The Lions Club would like to thank through this medium all stakeholders who took part in the Fair for offering their expertise, information and services to the public of St. Maarten free of charge. The club would also like to thank the general public that came out in great numbers to make use of these services, information and various tests that were offered. Compiling all the results from the various stakeholders took some time and for that reason this press-release is finally being released at this time”.
All participants in the Fair have expressed their satisfaction as all did well, with some doing better than others. For the newcomers to the Fair, it was a great experience and most have already signed up for next year’s Fair in 2017. This year the Fair has seen quite some additions in particular where it concerns the Wellness part of the Fair with four speakers who filled the conference rooms at the Festival Village.
Pharmacist Dick Luttekes made several presentations on the administration of medicines and on several occasions there was a large crowd that was very satisfied with the knowledge they gathered from his presentations. Dr. Mark Hatfield, a Retina specialist from the U.S. spoke about Eye-care and Diabetes. He also addressed a full room of listeners who were updated especially where it pertains to those with diabetes.
As was expected, the speaker that drew the largest crowd was Civil-Law Notary Mrs. Meredith Gibson-Boekhoudt who spoke on “The Last Will” and “Inheritance”. Her presentation saw a conference room filled to capacity with standing room only as she enlightened the audience on these two very important subjects especially where it pertains to the changes in the inheritance law after April 2014. The final speaker for the day at the Lions Health & Wellness Fair was Pediatrician Dr. Pieter Offringa who spoke about Asthma & Allergies in small children.
The booth with the most visitors was The Diabetes Foundation(DBF) with their blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol tests. This year the DBF tested 410 persons which is a big number judging from them testing in all districts on the island every other weekend. This year once again they added the services of a Podiatrist who flew in from Curacao for the day especially to assist the DBF with inspection of the feet and in particular the diabetic feet. The doctor was busy from the very beginning in the morning until she was ready to catch the plane back to Curacao. Diabetic persons who were high risks were referred to their specialist with the foot results and once again the Diabetes Foundation and the Lions are happy to announce that something really good came out of this year’s Fair.
The Podiatrist saw so many feet which showed some real alarming results and immediately notified the SZV. It so happened that the Honorable Minister of Health Emile Lee also visited the Fair and a discussion arose between DBF, SZV, the Minister and the Podiatrist. Based on these alarming results an agreement was made to have the Podiatrist visit St Maarten on a rotating basis to check the feet of our diabetics on St. Maarten as the island does not have a resident Podiatrist. The St. Maarten Lions Club for the 8th consecutive year sponsored the testing strips to the tune of US$ 1.200 for the 410 cholesterol tests carried out by the St. Maarten Diabetes Foundation.
The St. Maarten Aids Foundation tested a total of 168 persons at the Fair. Once again judging from the fact that the AIDS foundation is out testing every weekend in different districts, this is a great number. The St. Maarten Aids Foundation was also assisted by their French counterparts who also brought along their special unit (bus) to also assist with the testing. Henderson Insurances booth saw 113 visitors whereby all received information pertaining to health, travel, medical and life Insurance.
SMMC gave the public an interesting demonstration and various information on Dialyses and the many services that is offered at the hospital. The Nephrologist was also at hand to give the necessary vital information. The Child Preventive Services of the Public Health Department offered vaccinations to children and also updated the vaccination files of many children. The Health Bus offered a special service to women with Gynecologist Dr. Courtar doing the special examinations and giving vital information. Eye screening was carried out by students of the Medical School of Medicine AUC. Inner Harmony is another regular participant that had a booth giving all sorts of information and demonstrating their activities that are available at their clinic in Cole Bay.
The Mental Health, Down Syndrome, Parkinson and Love of Kids Foundations gave vital information and demonstrations on mental health situations and how to deal with down syndrome in the early stages. The Parkinson Foundation is a new foundation and they shared documents on the disease while the Love of Kids Foundation gave important information on dyslexia while also demonstrating material on this important subject matter.
The brand new Kidney Foundation also had plenty to share with the public in particular with Ms. Felicita sharing her experiences. Surprisingly for the first time taking part many visited the booth for more information. Other newcomers were the recently established Psychologists Foundation and the newly sworn-in physiotherapist. The Alzheimer Foundation was also back at the Fair and took quite some memory tests and shared information to the public. SZV also once again played an important role at the Fair giving vital information on their new direction of preventive health care, information on health referrals and pensions.
Finally the Tsu Chi Foundation was once again the booth which was very popular for the various visitors. This Foundation saw no less than 343 visitors and carried out 94 massages and at closing time at 4:00PM was still busy and regretfully at that time had to turn back persons who still wanted to get a massage.
This year’s Fair has seen quite a growth with no less than 8 new organizations and foundations coming on board with all 44 booths being occupied. For persons or organizations that would like additional information or if they would like to take part in the next Lion Rudy Hoeve Health & Wellness Fair in 2017 can check the St. Maarten Lions Club Facebook page or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
