NCRHA takes health message to church

The North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) said its Walk the Talk (WTT) initiative targets members of religious organisations to engage them in direct interventions for good health by delivering full executive medicals to their congregations.

To date, over 50,000 individuals would have visited either a church, temple or mosque for full medical screenings and services, delivered to them in their comfort spaces, by the doctors and nurses of the NCRHA, a media release said.

Nurse Glenda George Mc Clean is one such healthcare professional who has been on "plenty" WTT medical outings. She recounted how senior citizen eventually felt comfortable enough to take the covid19 vaccine, because of the visit to the church.

“I remember going to the Agape Full Gospel Church…it was a Sunday and we had mostly senior citizens come out that day. There was one woman I remember who was really happy to have us there, she was in her 70’s and we were giving out covid vaccines. She wanted the vaccine, but was afraid, plus she had comorbidities, that is a number of disease simultaneously known to us. By gently giving her the facts, she changed her mind. She told me outright, ‘If I had to go to a health centre, I was not taking no vaccine. It is because you are here, in my church, that I am comfortable enough to take the vaccine,'” Mc Clean said.

Following the experience, that senior citizen confidently visited the St Joseph Health Centre for her second shot, the release said.

CEO at NCRHA Davlin Thomas said the WTT initiative extends past just a medical intervention outreach programme, “to matters of the heart."

“Attending to members of the community at their place of worship comes natural to the NCRHA. We are a force or healing, and healing is a spiritual thing. It is our pleasure to serve,” Thomas said in the release.

General manager, Primary Health Care Services, Dr Abdul Hamid said the stories about the WTT, speak not to staff just doing a job, "it is a calling."

“It is a matter of trust,” said Thomas. "Building on that invaluable goodwill, the NCRHA is now extending even further, going beyond focusing on the reduction of noncommunicable diseases, to preventative medicine, “dealing with some issues upfront to minimise the occasion of members of the community ever having to end up seeking treatment in the system."