Hinds praises Beetham residents for attending health fair

LAVENTILLE West MP and National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds praised residents of Beetham Gardens on Sunday morning for coming out in their numbers to a community health fair.

The health fair was co-hosted by the Maranatha Seventh-day Adventist Church and Hinds' office at the Excel Beetham Estate Government Primary School.

Residents were able to get eye testing, HIV testing, counselling, prostate exams, pap smears, nutritional guidance, lung capacity testing, among other things.

The North West Regional Health Authority and the Community Hospital of Seventh-day Adventists also collaborated for the event.

"I am more than pleased to have taken time from the otherwise pressing national events to be here this morning in the midst of a very worthwhile and useful and positive activity," he said.

He urged people of all ages to make healthy life choices and to take their health more seriously.

He boasted that his "health age" was determined to be 61 – six years younger than his current age. In addition, he was told he has "outstanding hearing," to which he joked, "It's Trinidadians I working and dealing with so I have to be able to hear good."

He believes his good health is a result of "wise health choices" he made in the 70s and 80s.

In 1977, he quit smoking cigarettes and in 1984, he stopped drinking alcohol. He also later stopped eating meat owing to the practices and livity associated with Rastafari.

"The response that I am seeing from you, the people of the Beetham and environs, suggests to me that at a national level, all of the messages (about health) are getting across to the nation, because the enthusiasm and the flow of participation that I am seeing suggests that you are very astute and (aware of) the need to take care of this thing called the human body that we live in."

He said he hopes to see another health fair hosted in another section of his constituency in the near future.

"Your health is your wealth so this engagement is very important for that."