In observance of Occupational Health and Safety Month, the Aurora Gold Mine Inc (AGM) two weekends ago hosted its annual Health Fair, along with a number of other activities, to the benefit of their employees and others who were onsite.
The activities took place at Camp Aurora in Region Seven, AGM said in a press release.
At the Health Fair, over 300 employees of AGM had the benefit of medical care provided by a 12-member team, which comprised of Ministry of Public Health and private medical personnel. However, according to the release, AGM’s senior Medical Officer, Mahendranauth Ragunauth said the fair catered not only to AGM employees, but also to other contractors who were onsite and took advantage of the opportunity.
During the event, a four-member dental crew from the Cheddi Jagan Dental Clinic, along with dental personnel from Region Seven, took care of the dental needs of 106 workers in terms of extraction, filling and cleaning.
Additionally, the release said two persons from the Voluntary Counselling and Testing Unit of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat, conducted 104 tests for HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B. Ragunauth said while all persons who were tested for HIV tested negative, some of the results for persons who tested for other sexually transmitted diseases came back positive, however, those persons have begun treatment after receiving their results.
Eye screenings were also done at the health fair and at least 75 employees benefitted from the screenings. According to Ragunauth, a few cases of cataract and glaucoma were detected.
There were also cancer awareness sessions with both males and females, done by Dr Samantha, who also conducted breast cancer examinations, and Dr Austin, who holds a Master’s Degree in psychiatry.
The release added that fitness trainer Lonsdale O’Ryan Joseph held two training sessions in the gym and also spoke about nutrition, weight loss and techniques in exercising with or without a gym. Nutritionist Cabor Chase, also held a session with the kitchen staff about preparing healthy meals and gave tips on better preparation of meals.
Among the other activities hosted by the company was a five kilometers fitness walk. Persons involved either ran or walked the distance.
