By: Fatimah Bazambo
THE Junior Chamber International (JCI) Ibadan Elite has provided free medical services to 500 elderly persons and children across Ibadan under its Elite Health Drive Project.
The outreach, in its third phase, was held at Oke Aremo, Ibadan, where 250 adults and children benefited from it on Wednesday.
Speaking to journalists, the president of JCI Ibadan Elite, Ibukunoluwa Otesile, said the Elite Health Drive Project is one of the organisation’s flagship projects, funded through a grant won from the JCI-Crocodile Foundation.
She explained that phase I of the project was held around this year’s June, phase II on 27th October this year at Idi-Omo, Oja Oba, while phase III was held at Oke Aremo on 28th October this year.
Otesile said the foundation’s target beneficiaries are the elderly and children, adding that the team settled for Oja Oba and Oke Aremo communities after looking for where underserved elders could be found within Ibadan.
“In total, we impacted 500 beneficiaries. We have had 100 before, 150 yesterday, and 250 adults and children today – 150 adults, 100 children, she said.
Services provided include blood pressure checks, hepatitis B screening, HIV tests, malaria parasite tests, blood sugar tests, and eye checkups by an optometrist.
Based on the results, drugs and glasses were administered to beneficiaries.
Otesile said a critical health need discovered during the outreach was elevated blood pressure among many of the beneficiaries, some of whom were not aware of their condition.
“Quite some persons we saw here have elevated blood pressure. Some of them were not even aware, and this is why some people just sleep and do not wake up. This is as a result of elevated blood pressure. We’ve created awareness about the disease and administered drugs for people with that health concern,” she said.
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One of the volunteers, from the Nigeria Red Cross, advised parents to always keep their children hydrated because of the heat wave.
The project was funded by JCI-Crocodile Foundation SDG Community Grant, in partnership with the Nigeria Red Cross, Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Oyo Messi, and Krishat Pharmaceutical.
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