The Ministry of Health and Wellness’ Vector Control Unit will target the parishes of St Philip and St Michael for fogging this week.

The team will be in St Philip for the first four days of the week before moving onto communities in St Michael.

On Monday, February 5, the Unit will spray College Savannah 1 & 2, Fortescue and environs. The following day, Tuesday, February 6, they will concentrate their mosquito eradication efforts in Blades Hill 1 to 3, Bayfield, Skeete’s Bay, and neighbouring districts.

Culpepper Development, Marley Vale, St. Catherine Road, Ragged Point, and surrounding areas will be targeted on Wednesday, February 7.

The team will wrap up in St Philip on Thursday, February 8, when they fog Industry Hall, Content Cot, and Coles Road.

The fogging exercise for the week will conclude on Friday, February 9, when the Unit visits the following areas in St Michael: Passage Road, Passage Garden, Alleyne Lane, Strathclyde Crescent, Strathclyde Drive, and Monteith Gardens.

Fogging takes place from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. daily. Householders are reminded to open their windows and doors to allow the spray to enter. Children should not be allowed to play in the spray.

Members of the public are advised that the completion of scheduled fogging activities may be affected by events beyond the Unit’s control. In such circumstances, the Unit will return to communities affected in the soonest possible time.

(PR)

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recommending that people in Guyana wear dust masks due to a high concentration of Sahara dust in parts of Guyana. Air quality monitoring stations list air quality in parts of Georgetown, East Bank Demerara and East Berbice as “unhealthy”. “The public is advised to limit their time spent outdoors ...

Barbadians now have access to testing for genetic eye diseases, as it is readily available on the island for the first time.

Dr Charles Pierce is the pioneer behind bringing the testing to the island, after realising the need for more accurate diagnosis in eye diseases among the population.

“There has always been this gap in terms of diagnosis of inherited eye disease. Sometimes you can say “this looks like something, but we’ve never had a genetic confirmation. That is something I want to move forward,” Pierce said.

Pierce has more than 15 years’ experience in the field, having worked in Barbados and the United Kingdom (UK).

Having studied Ophthalmology in the UK, zoning in on diseases affecting the back of the eye, his curiosity was piqued as to what genes are responsible for causing inherited diseases in the Caribbean. There has not been a test on the island, to allow families to know their status as it relates to inherited diseases.

“We are moving into an era of personalized medicine where we can look forward to treat inherited  eye diseases but only if we know the genetic cause. Without this information,  we’re never going to have treatments tailored for people in the Caribbean,” Pierce said.

“In a lot of countries, diagnosis is based on testing patients to identify the gene causing the problem. I wanted to bring that to Barbados.”

Testing for genetic eye diseases in Barbados will allow for a more accurate understanding of the genetic abnormalities and how prevalent they are across the island. Through a simple swab of the mouth, the saliva collected can be analysed for testing.

“The hope is that more people will be able to get a definitive diagnosis. We can hopefully build a library of the different genetic abnormalities that are in our population,  leading  to more research and insight to treatments in the future,” Pierce said.

Persons with an inherited eye disease can experience night blindness and changes to central vision. Currently, patients with low vision manage their disease through habit changes such as wearing of shades, magnification and enlargement of fonts on smart devices.

(PR)

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A local company that specialises in providing therapy has welcomed Fontana Roach, a registered counselling psychologist, to its team.

The Relational Practices Ltd, based in St Philip, provides therapy for individuals, couples, adolescents and families managing issues like depression, anxiety, adjustment, family conflict, trauma, self-harm, and crisis intervention.

Roach who holds a Master of Science in Counselling Psychology from The University of The West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, said she was eager to join the team as she has always had a passion for working in the mental health profession.

“I developed a passion for studying human behaviour and mental health and I wanted to help people overcome challenges that were not conducive to their health and relationships,” Roach said.

“As it relates to adolescent health, my own experiences during my adolescent phase and my father’s interest in the area were a major influence in my life. Persons had a way of describing adolescence as one of ‘storm and stress’ or of ‘rebellion,’ and during my studies, I recognised the myths and misconceptions that led to these incorrect perceptions about the adolescent phase.

“If I could help correct these misconceptions, myths, and incorrect perceptions, then the [adolescent] phase would not be described as negatively as it was in the past,” she added.

According to Roach: “We don’t expect babies to be able to walk and talk when they are born as we know that there are particular stages at which these skills and capabilities develop, and we nurture and support them through these phases until they reach the particular milestone. But we tend not to offer the same support to adolescents during their phase of development due to the lack of knowledge and I want to help change that.”

(PR)

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