The Youth Department of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church Osu District, as part of its activities to commemorate the church’s Global Youth Day (GYD) 2023, has organised a free medical care screening for residents in Osu Kinkawe and its environs. The youth department was more concerned about the health and wellbeing of residents who lived around the Church. The over 100 people were screened for blood pressure, sugar level, body mass index , dental, and eye services. The youth department aside the free screening, went out to the community and share dental equipments for oral care. The philanthropic exercise organised on the theme, ‘Love is a Verb,’ was to encourage the youth to demonstrate their love and care for communities in practical and tangible ways. Mr Kweku Acheampong Aning, the SDA Youth leader of Osu District of the church said this initiative was to reach out to the community and help improve the lives of people in the community. He said this initiative which began in 2018 was to go out and demonstrate what has been learned in the church to the world, and since then, the activity is executed every year to impact lives. ‘Our other churches across the world are also reaching out to their communities to also spread the sermon, as we are doing various social intervention programmes for the wellness of our communities,’ he added. Mr Aning said each year varied with what the church did to help people living in the community, saying, ‘We look out for what is really required in the community and reach out to help.’ He urged residents to live a healthy lifestyle, and continue to learn and preach the gospel. The screening witnessed several youth members of the church contributing their quota to ensuring that residents of Osu Kinkawe and it environs got a memorable experience. Mr James Mckeown Amoah, Leader of the medical team for the screening said, the team recorded a high number of residents with High Blood Pressure, eye problems, high sugar levels, malaria, and dental issues. He said this could be due to lack of not having frequent check-ups, hence, it was a good to have such free health screening fequently. ‘We are giving out free medicines and prescribing medications whcih we do not have for them to get from outside. We also refer them to visit other medical facilities for further treatment where if we cannot provide’he added. He, therefore, emphasised the need to develop programmes that would target educating, counseling, and sensitising residents. Global Youth Day is a worldwide initiative by the SDA youth church, to challenge young people to reach out to their communities and live out the sermon they preach.
Source: Ghana News Agency
