Health talks at Hyatt

CARIBBEAN Medical Providers Practising Abroad (CMPPA), an American academy of family physicians, in association with the New Jersey Medical Association, is hosting the fifth annual Medical Conference and Community Outreach Programme at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad, from today to Sunday.

Approximately 30 international medical practitioners and 20 local counterparts will be engaged in plenary and breakout sessions, addressing topics such as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), health and wellness, cancer care, occupational and physical therapy, foot and ankle wound care, sleep apnea, and mental healthcare, among others.

Activities will provide education, networking and social opportunities for participants as certified therapists will conduct workshops on upper extremity pathology, management and therapies.

The conference opens at 9 am with a talk on Public Private Partnerships to end the Needless Deaths in the Caribbean due to NCDs, cancers and strokes that will be done by Dr Agatha Archie-Carrington (TT).

This will be followed by a session on renal dialysis and occupational therapy conducted by Jim Spafford (USA), while Professor Hilary Bowman (TT) will speak on educating the next generation of healthcare providers.

The morning session will also see other medics address a number of other health issues.

The physiology of sleep, sleep apnea and comprehensive healthcare screening will be conducted by Dr Raj Kapoor, pulmonary critical care specialist. The Home Sleep Testing and CPAP Therapy will be done by Gregory Arneaud, certified respiratory therapist, who is also the founder and CEO of iSD Solutions.

Arneaud will speak on Clinic in a Bag, a comprehensive based examination platform clinicians can wirelessly deploy to assess patients at any point of care.

After lunch there will be a number of breakout sessions with Drs Joanne Balkaran, Sharon Wong, Eileen Scanlon and Dr Raj Kapoor, all of the US.

Tomorrow, Minister of Health Dr Terrence Deyalsingh, will deliver a welcome address which will be followed by sessions with the likes of Dr Geoffrey Frankson (Belize), Dr Cheryl Jackson, Dr Tim Conway and Dr Earl Ettienne (USA) and Shane Gieowarsingh (Italy).

Other medical practitioners taking part in the exhibition are TT’s Dr Chandra Saroop, Maxwell Adeyemi, Dr Terrence Babwa, Phillip St Louis, Claude Khan, Melissa Agbeko, Dr Lall Sawh, Dr Wesley Greaves, Kimberly Badal, Dr Melford John, Dr Marisa Nimrod, Dr Hassina Mohammed, Dr Varma Deyalsingh and Dr Vernice Richards.

From the US are Ann Marie Gordon, Patrick Griffith, Carl Bourne, Sarah St Louis, Diane Thompson, Wendy Perrott, Dr Sean Sawh, Professor Michele Monteil, Dr Obi Onyewu, Hedy Smith, Dr Marshalee George, Dr Kimlin Tam Ashing, Dr Jane Holmes Bernstein, Dr Leonard Bernstein, Canada’s Dr Melaika Agbeko and Professor Juliet Daniel and England’s Dr Yansie Rolston.