Programme “I Love My Body” ends

The Daily Herald writes that the final “I Love My Body” session of the twelve-week-long programme took place late afternoon Wednesday at the Ambulance Bay of the A.M. Edwards Medical Center in The Bottom. The featured presentation by Dr. Gina Boorsma recapped all that participants learnt throughout the course in an exercise combined with a quiz.

This presentation was followed with a group walk to Wells Bay Road and around The Bottom, ending back at the Ambulance Bay, where participants were given the option to check their blood pressure, sugar and weight. Volunteering medical students from the Saba University School of Medicine’s Global Health Club performed the health checks on the participants and provided all present with a healthy recipe booklet from their recent Global Food event. Participants were welcomed back from their walk by Saba Health Care Foundation (SHCF) Director Dr. Joka Blaauboer and Island Governor Jonathan Johnson.

Dr. Blaauboer congratulated participants on their personal achievements and thanked Dr. Boorsma for all her efforts in organising the course. She stressed the vital role of the Island Government in making this programme possible, with all expenses for the programme covered through the financial resources of the local government. Special attention and thanks were extended to the programme’s assisting team, led by Rosalyn Johnson, the governor’s wife, and SHCF employee Hanneke Magee. Among the lecturing volunteers, La-Toya Charles from the “Saba Fit” programme, Laurens Dhaese and Kim Te Riele were recognised for their dedication to the programme.

Saba Island Governor Jonathan Johnson echoed the remarks of Dr. Blaauboer, expressing the executive’s support for such healthy lifestyle community activities. Attending an official “Health Care Convention” on Saba, Gerard Berkel spoke as the Director of the St. Eustatius Health Care Foundation. He stated that obesity is a challenge of great concern on both Saba and St. Eustatius and that this programme inspired him to replicate it in St. Eustatius, where they intend to commence a similar Healthy Life Style programme. Berkel congratulated the participants, remarking on the important role of people who do something to make a difference.

Five of the participants in the quiz exercise received gift vouchers for the purchase of fresh local vegetables and fruits from the Organoponics Farm at The Level. The vouchers were sponsored by the Saba Reach Foundation, which manages the sheltered social workplace agricultural project.

The overall winner of the quiz was Shenella Petit Homme followed with minor mistakes by Shirley Woods, Lyliane Job, Saskia Woodly and Miranda Olga Simmons. The closing session ended with a healthy fruit buffet catered by Saba Snack from Windwardside.