Residents Receive Free Chronic Kidney Disease Testing
Basseterre, St. Kitts, (SKNIS): Residents of St. Kitts took full advantage of the opportunity to have free chronic kidney disease testing when the Caribbean Health and Education Foundation (CHEF) brought its medical expertise to the Federation.
Delores Willette explained that persons who volunteered to be screened were served on a first-come-first-serve basis. She said the procedure involved filling out a registration form, being weighed and measured, providing blood and urine samples and then waiting for results. She explained why she felt it was important for her to be screened.
“Oh it’s very important for me to come because I’m a diabetic and hypertensive patient, so when we have that kind of disease, the health of our kidneys are involved and you need to know if it’s good or bad,” Mrs. Willette emphasized. “So it’s good to check on it. I encourage everybody and anybody to come out and have their kidney’s checked, because I live overseas, I know it’s very expensive to take that test and we’re getting it for free, so come out and get you test.”
Similarly Dwight Molyneaux explained why he checked for chronic kidney disease.
“Well it’s very important for me at my age to come and take the test, and I’m encouraging everybody to come and take the test, it’s free why not,” Mr. Molyneaux encouraged. “I suffer sometimes – I feel a digging pain in my sides, around my testicles and penis, I come to check out and see if I have any problems with my kidneys. So I think the testing is a good gesture and the people who organize it, I thank them very much for the help that they give today.”
Fr. Wilfred Daniel, another testing volunteer noted that during his sojourn in the U.S. Virgin Islands, healthcare had been very expensive and he was delighted to get free diabetic medication and now free chronic kidney disease testing.
“Once you know what’s happening with your kidneys, you can go to your Doctor or health centre or wherever it’s of great help, because you can get proper treatment once they take that into consideration,” Fr. Daniel noted. “And so I encourage anyone to come and get tested. It means then in the future it will make some persons try to avoid getting some of these illnesses because today a lot of people suffer from hypertension and diabetes, in fact some people don’t even know they have it.”
The chronic kidney disease testing was coordinated by the Caribbean Health Education Foundation (CHEF) in collaboration with the St. Kitts and Nevis Ministry of Health and the St. Kitts-based medical learning institutions. Screening took place concurrently at the Newtown Community Centre and the McKnight Community Centre.