DINTHILL MEDICAL MISSION A MAJOR SUCCESS !
The Dinthill Medical Mission 2017 was a tremendous success as more than 400 students benefited from the second staging of the Annual Medical Mission. Students were treated to free dental and medical check ups as a premier service spearheaded by the Florida Chapter Alumni Association. The vibrant team of volunteers which included but were not limited to doctors, nurses, dentist, dental hygienist, ARNP’s, and many more professionals who traveled from the United States to Linstead, Jamaica to give of their time and financial support to the returning students and faculty at the school.
The health fair, which is in its second year, served as a timely gift to help parents to mitigate the costs of back to school physicals and dental examinations.
Coordinator for this year’s mission, Margaret Watt-Walker, said the chapter decided to host another back-to-school health fair because of the overwhelming success of the last medical mission, when the team assisted approximately 800 students.
“This year we have more people than last year, there are 42 of us here from Florida — doctors, dentist, nurse practitioners and nurses, and we also have volunteers. Today, we are seeing the first-, second- and third-formers and tomorrow we will see fourth-, fifth- and sixth-formers,” she said, noting that the team anticipated seeing over 1,000 students this year.
Medical director of the mission, past student of Dinthill, Dr Cyrus McCalla, who is an obstetrician-gynaecologist, said it has been an honour for the team to give back to the school community.
“This is absolutely important to us as graduates. I graduated from Dinthill in 1976 and went to the US, became a medical doctor, so when the opportunity came up to give back it was no question,” he said. “We are here with a number of physicians, nurses and dentist, who have taken time off from their jobs to see the students and the needs are taken care of without charge. The gratitude from students and parents have been tremendous.”
For more details see observer publication: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/400-dinthill-technical-students-benefit-from-free-health-fair-continues-today_108160
