United Hands Inc. Medical Mission
FREE Medical, Dental and Optical Screenings
United Hands, Inc., a 40-member U.S.-based team of health professionals will be conducting free health screenings for the general public in St. Kitts and Nevis July 28 to 31, 2008.
The visit of United Hands is sponsored by the St. Kitts – Nevis Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Ministry of Health of St. Kitts – Nevis.
“The focus of our health screening will be on prevention” says Dr. Don Bovell, an emergency medicine physician in Florida, who serves as the medical director of United Hands. The services offered include vision evaluation and free glasses, blood pressure checks, glucose and cholesterol screenings, ultrasound imaging, dental evaluation and treatment, general health, nutrition and weight loss counseling and medical exam by physicians and other healthcare practitioners.
United Hands is an all-volunteer group that makes one of these “mission trips” each year. In prior years the group has traveled to Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, South Africa and Ghana. Each member of the group covers their own expenses for the trip and the local hosts assist with logistics and transportation.
“It is a lot of work to get ready for one of our mission trips. Fortunately I have the assistance of Alvincent Hutson, a Kittitian-American who extended the invitation to us.” says Ann Burnett, the coordinator of United Hands. It takes Ann months of careful planning, securing supplies, and working out the travel details of all the team members.
“God has greatly blessed us and this is a great opportunity to give back” says Dr. David Williams, a public health professor at Harvard University in Boston and Director of United Hands, Inc. Dr. Williams, a St. Lucian, states that many of the team members including Ann Burnett (Jamaica) and Dr. Bovell (Guyana) have Caribbean roots.
The Seventh Day Adventist Church encourages all members of the community to come and receive the FREE health care services that will be available.