ABRCS Community Life Line screens dozens, issues call for corporate support

Dozens of Antiguans and Barbudans were screened for health checks on Saturday, at the East Bus Station, the latest stop in the Community Life Line Initiative offered by the Antigua Barbuda Red Cross (ABRCS).

Sponsored by the Mill Reef Fund, the initiative brings blood pressure monitoring, blood glucose testing, and basic health counselling directly to public spaces at no cost.

Assisted by volunteers from the ABRCS, a rotating team of nursing and medical volunteers, donated their time at Saturday’s screening. In addition, Scrub Life Cares provided menstrual hygiene education and kits to participants,

Saturday’s exercise follows earlier sessions at the West Bus Station, and an outreach in Barbuda, where there has been less consistent access to routine screenings. It has also extended into vulnerable communities, reaching persons living with disabilities.

Among the screenings, the Community Life Line offers other initiatives such as Porridge Wednesdays which serves members of the indigent community at risk of going without a hot meal. Volunteers also deliver essential household items, assist where necessary with basic needs and participate in caring for the environment.

ABRCS President Dr. Jose Humphreys, has overseen the expansion of the Community Life Line initiative.

“Every blood pressure cuff we wrap around an arm, every bowl of porridge we serve on a Wednesday evening, every hygiene kit placed into a beneficiary’s hands, is the Red Cross doing exactly what it was founded to do – meeting people where they are, before a crisis forces them into a hospital bed or a harder place. We have watched persons walk away from a screening with a number they did not expect, and in that moment, we have already positively changed the course of their health. We have watched a beneficiary receive a bath and a clean set of clothes and stand a little taller, regaining their dignity and self-worth,” Dr Humphreys said.

The ABRCS expressed its appreciation to its partners – the Mill Reef Foundation and the Medical Benefits Scheme (MBS) for their continued support and is appealing to the corporate community across Antigua and Barbuda for support.