RESIDENTS of ‘Plastic City’, a little squatter settlement off the Vreed-en-Hoop foreshore on the West Demerara, recently benefitted from a massive health drive, a collaborative outreach effort by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Ozone Foundation and Rotary Club of Central Georgetown.The outreach was held at the Vreed-en-Hoop Secondary School where several doctors, pediatricians, dentists and other medical practitioners assembled to offer medical care to more than 60 residents, including children.

The first outreach was held by Ozone on January 8 as a back-to-school charitable drive to the children of ‘Plastic City’, Sister’s Village and Vive La Force, all West Demerara communities. According to Ozone’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Olive Gopaul, ‘Plastic City’ was selected because of the health risks threatening the community because of its location along the seashore.

“Plastic City is one of those communities that is being inhabited along the seashore of Vreed-en-Hoop, and when you look at the lifestyle there, it’s very unsanitary. So we have decided that we’re going to come on in again and do a major health outreach within the community, so the children can also be beneficiaries of the health services that are being provided,” Gopaul told the Guyana Chronicle.

Those who participated in the charitable drive include the Rotary Club of Georgetown Central, the United States Embassy’s Humanity Assistance Program (HAP), Impressions, Royal Castle, the West Demerara Regional Hospital, and ‘D’ Division’s Commander, Leslie James.

Gopaul later told the Guyana Chronicle that the organisation is shifting its community outreach beyond Georgetown, and has partnered with several organisations including Rotary Club of Georgetown Central.
“Our work was centered in Georgetown,” she said, “but we recognised that people in the various regions need as much help, or even more help, than people in Georgetown, because Georgetown has a lot of activities going on. So we’ve decided to venture off a little bit outside of Georgetown, and Region Three is one of our first stops.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Kneka Franklin of the Rotary Club of Georgetown Central, said the organisation’s participation was in keeping with its recent decision to provide health care services to communities outside of the Capital City this year.

“We decided that we wanted to move out of Georgetown, which was exactly what Olive’s organisation was hoping to do, so it kinda fit perfectly with what we did. So it’s really awesome to come into the community that needs it, partnering with Olive’s amazing foundation too. It’s always great when organisations have the same vision … and that we can partner,” Dr. Franklin said.

She said the Rotary Club of Georgetown Central has its ‘Dental Bus’ and organisations and individuals interested in partnering with them can make contact.
“If there’s an individual that has an outreach that they want to do it too then they just contact us and depending on everything in terms of their cause – what it is you’re hoping to do – then we might say ok we’ll partner or we’ll just lend you the bus with a cost attached to it,” Dr. Franklin told the Chronicle.