Barbados Heart & Stroke Week - Rewards for healthy lifestyles
Unfortunately, many of us don’t know or don’t care that
obesity opens the door to a number of “heart unfriendly” conditions, including
hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol. That was the observation of family
physician Dr. Colin Alert as he presented the lecture at the Awards Ceremony for
the How Young Is Your Heart Essay and Poster Competition for primary schools,
which was organized by The Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados in association
with Guardian Life of the Caribbean. The event took place at the Harrison
College school hall on Thursday September 21st, 2006.
Dr. Alert told the large audience, made up of pupils,
teachers, parents and friends, as well as representatives of Guardian Life and
the Heart & Stroke Foundation, that we as a people are getting lazier, as
increasingly popular American culture is imported into our homes in the form of
computers, 24 hour TV, video games, playstations, X-boxes and Fast foods. He
said that adolescents are at risk of the same cardiovascular diseases that
currently “terrorize” adults.
Dr. Alert identified heart Disease as the number one
terrorist, and said that other terrorists are diabetes and stroke. He also
lightheartedly suggested that undercover work is being done by obesity, high
cholesterol and hypertension. “Older hearts are most vulnerable”, he said,
“but the disease is sneaking up on younger hearts.”
Winner of How Young Is Your Heart Essay Competition, Olivia Alleyne
receiving her prize from Deryck Murray, VP Employee Benefits, Guardian Life
of the Caribbean.
That is why he lauded Guardian Life of the Caribbean and the
Heart & Stroke Foundation for organizing the How Young Is Your Heart
competition, as it is an excellent way to get across the message of choosing the
right foods and adopting healthy lifestyles to the youth while they are at a
very early and vulnerable age.
How Young Is Your Heart
The competition was one of a number of events in Barbados
Heart and Stroke Week, a week of activities organized by the Foundation leading
up to World Heart Day on September 24th, and adopted this year’s theme “How
young is your heart?”
Week of activities
The week began with a church service at St.Matthias Anglican
Church, Hastings on Sunday September 17th.
On Monday 18th the President of the Heart & Stroke
Foundation, Dru Symmonds SCM, J.P. was interviewed on CBC TV’s Chat Room and discussed the
ongoing activity and plans of the Foundation.
On Tuesday September 19th the public was invited to an Open
Day at the Foundation’s headquarters on Jemmotts Lane, and on Sunday September
24th a team of volunteers from the Foundation participated in the Kiwanis Silver
Dollars for Children drive, at which the Foundation was a one of the receiving
charities.
The How Young Is Your Heart Essay and Poster Competition was
open to primary school students across Barbados. Those in the age category 5 to
8 years were asked to create a poster depicting the theme “How Young Is Your
Heart”, while the 9 to 11 year olds were asked to write an essay of 350 words or
less on the same theme.
Attractive prizes were offered, totalling over $4,000.00.
These included vouchers to the value of $400.00 for first place, $200.00 for
second and $100.00 for third place in each category, and in addition each prize
winner received a one year subscription to National Kids Geographic Magazine.
Further, the school producing the winner in each category received a prize to
the value of $1000.00.
Following a welcome address by the Heart & Stroke
Foundation’s president, Dru Symmonds SCM, J.P., an overview of the judges’ comments was
given by CEO Adrian Randall. He thanked the students for taking the time and
effort to participate in the competition, and said that, according to the
judges, the standard of the entries was consistently high and showed a fair
understanding of the issues of heart health.
Topping the Essay competition was 9 year old
Olivia Alleyne of the Christ Church
Girls School. Second place went to Asia
Blackman, 10, of St. David’s Primary School, and third was
Ethan Alleyne, 11, who was “home
schooled.” Special mention was made of Romario Barker, 11, of Christ Church
Foundation School, for a good effort. (Click
underlined links to read essays)
In the poster competition young
Jonathan Gittens, 6, of
Charles F. Broome Primary gained first place with an inspiring poster inviting a
choice between the bad (smoking, drugs, bad foods), and the good (exercise,
vitamins, water, minerals). This winning poster has incidentally been selected
as the cover of a Seasons Greetings card shared by the Heart & Stroke Foundation
and Guardian Life of the Caribbean.
Second place went to Renauld Daley, 5, of Ignatius Byer Primary, and third was
Mahalia Shirin Caddle, 7, of St. Gabriel’s School.
Jordan Stanford, 5, of Codrington School received a special mention. (Click
underlined links to see posters)
Left: Deryck Murray VP Employee
Benefits, Guardian Life of the Caribbean congratulates Jonathan Gittens on
winning the How Young Is Your Heart Poster Competition.
Among the top Guardian Life executives to attend the Award
Ceremony were Maria Rivas-McMillan, Group Vice President – Corporate
Communications, Caira Cudjoe, Corporate Communications, Guardian Holdings,
Deryck Murray, Vice President, Employee Benefits, and Denise Ali, Assistant Vice
President, Human Resources, who are all based in Trinidad, and from the Barbados
office John Jones, General Manager, Guardian General Insurance, Winfield King,
Manager, Life and Employee Benefits, Patrick Charles, Manager of Life Sales,
(who performed the role of MC admirably), and Linette Mapp, Supervisor, Life
Administration and Underwriting, all of Guardian Life of the Caribbean. Margaret
Bovell, a Sales Representative of Guardian Life, and herself a well-known
singer, provided entertainment for an appreciative gathering. A good number of
Guardian Life of the Caribbean staff were also present to show their support.
They, along with the Foundation’s management and staff, were
able to mingle with the guests at an enjoyable reception that followed the
ceremony, and to view the impressive display of all the students’ posters that
was mounted in the hall.
In the poster competition young
