Ayodele Olalere
The councillor representing Ward C Upper Ikosi in Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area, Adedeji Osinowo, on Tuesday received commendation following a medical outreach program he organized for residents of Adeyiga Street, a community within the council.
The program, which was organised in conjunction with one of the residents of the street, one Dr Ademuyiwa, and tagged “Christmas Health Check Program; Giving Back to the Community’ was to provide a free medical checkup and drugs for the people especially the elderly.
While speaking on the purpose for.the program, Osinowo said it was one of the programs lined up for December this year for the residents as a way of giving back to them.
Residents were tested on blood pressure, sugar level, HIV, height and weight among other medical tests. They were also giving drugs free while some were referred to the hospital for further treatments.
Osinowo said a week ago, Christmas party had earlier being organised for the children in the community while the medical outreach was the first of such to be organised in the area.
“This is another programme we are organising for December this year. It’s a free health programme with the help of Dr Ademuyiwa who happens to be a member of the street.
We started this year and by next year, it will be bigger than this. We also have programme for the youths to counsel them on drug abuse,” he said.
He further said: “These tests are necessary because in Nigeria today, people have many challenges and they think a lot so they need to know their health status and failure to do that can result into something else. There are people of 80 and 90 years old who have come to check their health which I believe is a good achievement for the community.
We choose a day for this year’s program but next year, it will be two days.”
An elderly beneficiary of the program, Iswatu Anike said she was there to be tested for sugar level, blood pressure a d commended the organisers.
“It is a very good program which benefits us. They test us, give us free drugs and counsel us on our health. I thank the organisers for this program and I will urge them to make it a regular program,” she said.
Another beneficiary who is the chairman of the landlord association, Sunday Idowu said the medical outreach was one of the ways of helping the community, especially the elderly.
“Nowadays things are very difficult, people no longer go to the hospital and when they do, they don’t have money for tests. The councillor and Dr Ademuyiwa organised the program which is a blessing to us. People came from nearby streets to come and benefit from it. This is a Christmas gift for us here. We even prefer it more than rice and chicken because health is wealth,” he said
“I will urge the government to support this initiative so that they can be doing things like this in all communities across Lagos State twice a year,” he added.
One of the nurses, Joseph Alaba said the medical outreach was to make people to be aware of the state of their health.
“We did blood pressure, sugar level and HIV tests for them. We also checked their height and weight to be sure they are not becoming obese.
We started with health talk, telling them about their lifestyle, what they need to eat and not eat, avoiding alcohol and junk food. The blood pressure is to identify who has high blood pressure or mild one. Anyone with high blood pressure we asked them to go to general hospital or any other hospital for further treatment. This is a good program as it will help the community,” she said.