– To provide services at New Amsterdam Hospital, Project Dawn

A TEAM of healthcare professionals, which include overseas-based Guyanese who feel strongly about giving back to their country, are here on a two-week mission to provide various health services to the public and even to offer training to local practitioners.
The team is from Bridges Global Medical Missions (BGMM), a US-based organisation which comes to Guyana three times a year, not only to conduct medical outreaches but to continue medical education for local physicians.

Garfield Noel Isaacs-Heyliger, Chief Executive Officer of BGMM, told the Pepperpot Magazine during an interview at Project Dawn, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, that the organisation has been reaching out locally for the past 11 years.
“And we’ve done so without any notoriety,” he joked, adding, “We come to give back to the Guyanese communities. We’re usually very well received in the communities we go to. We have a long-standing relationship with all of the hospitals and they look forward to seeing us every year.”

The health professionals have included audiology services, cardiology, ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat), echo technician, endocrinology, dentists, family medicine, Information Technology, neonatology, neurology, nurses, OB/GYN (Obstetrics and Gynecology), orthopaedics, paediatrics, respiratory therapist, social workers and urology.

The medical outreach programmes initially started in No. 28 Village, West Coast Berbice and at Parika, East Bank of Essequibo, and the team has since been supporting Guyanese with health screens, blood pressure checks, blood sugar, EKGs and echocardiograms, height/weight, hearing and vision screening, pap smears and distribution of food and clothing; the latter in partnership with Food for The Poor and Caring For Others.
Services were extended to Fort Wellington, Leguan, Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), and to the Linden, Leonora, Bartica and Kwakwani Hospitals.

“We have been able to perform pap smears and have found some that were positive for cancer and been able to get those for treatment. We also have a cardiac specialist who comes. He found an eight-year-old girl with a heart defect and he recommended her for some treatment. She is now at President’s College and we see her whenever we come,” Heyliger reported.

According to him, for the first time this year, BGMM brought 10 students from the Texas State University as part of a foreign students exchange programme. Twelve more students are expected to come next year.

Approximately 600 persons are seen on each visit by the team. “One year we did 900 in two weeks,” Heyliger informed, adding, “In one day, we can look at over 200.” The team brings along medical supplies and equipment, and most times handles all of the finances on its own.

Heyliger’s sister, Claudette Heyliger-Thomas, Medical Director of BGMM, is always happy to be in Guyana and credits all of the work they do presently to the Guyanese upbringing they’ve received. She left for Canada just after she finished school.

“I’m a Georgetown girl. I was born and later hospitalised at GPHC. I love this country. This country nurtured me. I went to high school and then I went to college. So my foundation is here; it was a solid foundation. I think that the people we are today is based on the foundation that was given to us. So the fact that I am able to return the favour, so to speak; I’m not even giving back one per cent of what I have received,” she expressed.

Thomas explained that the team was at the Fort Wellington Hospital last Thursday and Friday and will start its ‘healthy babies programme’ today (Sunday) at the New Amsterdam Hospital. The team will remain at this hospital until Tuesday and will be at Project Dawn on Wednesday and Thursday, providing a number of services to the public from 9 am to 4 pm.
George Soodoo, who is also part of the team along with his wife India Soodoo, is back in Guyana for the first time after 40 years. The wife, who is American, said after she married Soodoo, she always wanted to visit Guyana. She is helping the team with some documentation.

“When you work with organisations that go out and help people, it brings a new awareness of the need of people. So it’s a learning experience and I am looking forward to it,” she told the Pepperpot Magazine.

Project Dawn’s Coordinator, Marcian Gravesande, said she was very happy about BGMM’s visit. “I feel very honoured. I very much appreciate not only this group but all the others that come, because they always bring good, medical attention to our people. For that, I am very, very grateful.”

Project Dawn assists the team with accommodation and provides other services.