BDF PARTNERS WITH MAY MEASUREMENT MONTH

BDF PARTNERS WITH MAY MEASUREMENT MONTH

BDF PARTNERS WITH MAY MEASUREMENT MONTH

FEATURED ARTICLE BY: DR KENNETH CONNELL, PRESIDENT OF THE HEART AND STROKE FOUNDATION BARBADOS

BDF Media Release| 17 MAY 19

Photography credit: BDF Media

On May 17th 2019, academia, civil societies, leading organizations in public health policy, and health care providers, will join the rest of the international community in recognizing World Hypertension Day. Also joining this tapestry of stakeholders, will be many people living with hypertension and its catastrophic events, heart attacks and strokes, as well as the families, friends, and caregivers, who are helping their loved ones cope with the disabilities associated with these sudden events. Very importantly, in this group, will also be people who have lost their brothers, aunts, workmates or acquaintances, as a consequence of this silent killer.

The observance of World Hypertension Day cannot therefore be just another day to acknowledge a longstanding enemy, it must be a time of much deeper reflection on methods and policies to rapidly stem the loss of just over 10 million people per year who succumb to this fate.

Hypertension discriminates shamelessly. It targets low-to-middle income countries, that are the most vulnerable to other natural disasters, such as tsunamis and hurricanes, and who must face difficulty decisions of prioritizing health care costs, with providing clean drinking water for their citizens.

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Hypertension is racist. It targets, disproportionately so, the communities of the African diaspora, whether by creating an enabling environment that facilitates the social determinants of risk factors, like unhealthy foods high in sodium, limited environments for physical activity, or smoke friendly public spaces. It has been argued that these enabling environments that are conducive to the social determinants of ill health, result in unhealthy decisions and an addiction for risky additions. Of the people living with hypertension, only half of them know they have it; the major first barrier to successful blood pressure control has been awareness. Treatment can only be achieved if people are aware they have high blood pressure. From 2017, the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) has launched an international programme to raise awareness about high blood pressure, around May 17th, World Hypertension Day, with May Measurement Month. This programme aims to screen newly diagnosed cases of elevated blood pressures, and over 2.7 million people have been screened in two years! http://maymeasure.com Barbados, through civil society organizations like the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Barbados Inc., and the Barbados Defence Force, will again team up under the theme “Drilling Down the Numbers, Because I Say So!!”. This highlights the nature of both the enemy, and the necessary combat response needed for a public health threat to our very sustainability! It also borrows the ISH’s strategy of using the strong influence that our children have in all of our lives, in motivating their parents, teachers, neighbors etc., to get their blood pressure checked, Because I Say So! Once aware of the diagnosis, people living with high blood pressure should implement lifestyle changes to reduce their blood pressure. These include a reduction in added sodium (salt) intake, getting approximately 150 minutes of physical activity every week, smoking cessation, and reduction in harmful alcohol intake. These lifestyle changes must be emphasized at all stages of the attack against high blood pressure.

Despite these their best efforts, however, the majority of people living with high blood pressure will require tablets (pills) to reduce their blood pressure, and will need to continue this protection for their entire lives. On and off treatment of high blood pressure may put these people at a higher risk for stroke. Your insurance policy only protects you from a natural disaster when it’s current and active, even if it only expired yesterday!

Healthcare providers – doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dieticians and psychologists – all have a responsibility of creating the most enabling environment for people living with hypertension to reach their target blood pressure, including motivating them to continue their efforts at healthier living and reminding them to take their medication every day, to guarantee protection, should a hurricane strike!

Scientists, practitioners and civil societies, also have a moral and professional responsibility to:

  1. Lobbying for healthier environments- sugar sweetened beverage and cigarette taxation
  2. Taking steps to urgently address the high prevalence of childhood obesity – 1 in 3 children in Barbados are overweight or obese
  3. Establishing the availability of core medications and a simplified management protocols and algorithms. The use of larger, more complex (and much longer!!) guidelines are robust academic and peer reviewed documents, but they’re only effective if used. Update of these guidelines remains low. This is clearly demonstrated in the WHO Global Hearts

Initiative, which aims at providing a collection of toolkits that aim to implement both public health and individual patient interventions. https://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/ hearts/en/

  1. Establishing a cleaner pathway of converting the new evidence into the care of people living with hypertension

My wish for World Hypertension Day 2019 is that we step back from data on rates, risks and ratios, to step back from the search for new drugs and gadgets used to treat and measure high blood pressure, and to move into the homes and lives of the many people living with hypertension, from the street corners in New York, to the remote villages in Uganda, and ask ourselves “why does it all matter?”. It matters to us in Barbados, because all of our very strong and successful efforts made to improve the lives of our people post-independence, are under the real threat from an enemy, who has become so cliché, that its best defense has been familiarity. Get out there and have your blood pressure checked, and if you’re already living with high blood pressure, keep at it!! This isn’t just your individual effort, entire communities are here to support your efforts, and to live healthier because our children say so!

Highlights

BDF Appoints New Force Sergeant Major

BDF Appoints New Force Sergeant Major

Bdf Appoints New Force Sergeant Major

BDF Media Release| 1 Apr 19

Photography credit: Lieutenant S Gollop

Master Chief Petty Officer Class One (MCPO1) Austin Howell has been appointed Force Sergeant Major (FSM) effective 1 April 2019. As a 30-year veteran of the BDF, MCPO1 Howell was appointed following the Commissioning of the former FSM Warrant Officer Class 1 Samuel Boyce in the rank of Captain.

As the most senior enlisted rank, the FSM acts as an advisor to the Chief of Staff, the senior command element, with specific responsibilities for junior enlisted leadership, discipline, ceremonial and parade matters among many other responsibilities.

Congratulations FSM!

Highlights

Introduction to Computer Applications Course For Berean Bible Church Closing Ceremony

Introduction to Computer Applications Course For Berean Bible Church Closing Ceremony

Computer Applications Course For Berean Bible Church Closing Ceremony

BDF Media Release| 30 Mar 19

Photography credit: Corporal Maynard D

The Barbados Defence Force’s Communications and Information Systems Platoon (CISP) held a Closing Ceremony for the Introduction to Computer Applications Course facilitated for the Berean Bible Church.  There were 19 participants.

The Ceremony marked the culmination of 8 weeks of formal training in:

PC Basics
Windows 7 & 10 Operating Systems
Internet Browsing and Internet Explorer 
Microsoft Word 2010

Captain Gale Morgan, Staff Officer Information Management Systems in her overview of the Course highlighted that the participants received tutorials in the basic knowledge and skills of information technology. She further indicated that the Course provided a unique synergy for BDF’s military assistance to the civil community (MACC) efforts which carried the added benefit of development of the BDF’s instructors and senior church members.

Highlights

Their Royal Highnesses Visit & Presentations

Their Royal Highnesses Visit & Presentations

Their Royal Highnesses Visit & Presentations

BDF Media Release| 24 Mar 19

Photography credit: BDF Media

As part of Their Royal Highnesses, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall,  10 day visit to the Commonwealth Caribbean islands and in recognition of the Barbados Defence Force’s 40th Anniversary of establishment, a Parade was held 19 March 2019 in National Hereos’ Square. 

During the Parade, His Royal Highness officially presented the Barbados Coast Guard Colour and Barbados Cadet Corps Banner. The Colour and Banner presented to these units of the BDF, join Queen’s Colour and the Regimental Colour presented to the Barbados Regiment in February 1981.

HRH also visited the Barbados Defence Force’s Field Medical Facility, where he viewed the equipment and interacted with the FMF’s personnel.

Highlights

BDF Argentine Tango at The Fort: A Cultural Exchange

BDF Argentine Tango at The Fort: A Cultural Exchange

BDF Argentine Tango at The Fort

BDF Media Release| 9 Mar 19

Photography credit: BDF Media

Headquarters Barbados Defence Force (HQ BDF) in recognition of its 40th Anniversary and 50 years of friendship between Argentina and Barbados, hosted “Argentina meets Barbados: Tango at the Fort” on Saturday 9th March at St Ann’s Fort, Garrison, St Michael. 
Patrons were treated to Tango workshops for beginners to advanced dancers and a variety of artistic expressions from both countries such as music, paintings, sculpture, film, weaponry and the best of Argentine wines with Barbadian cuisine.

The cultural highlight of the evening featured the live performance of the Barbados Defence Force Band and local songstress Nakita, playing the sensual rhythms of the Argentine Tango to create a unique and sophisticated ambience for dancing and cultural exchange.

Highlights

BDF Constructs Structures to House Generators For The Barbados Water Authority

BDF Constructs Structures to House Generators For The Barbados Water Authority

BDF Constructs Structures For The Barbados Water Authority

BDF Media Release| 25 Mar 19

Photography credit: BDF Media Source

The Barbados Defence Force’s (BDF) Engineering Troop has is providing assistance to the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) with the construction of reinforced concrete structures to secure electrical generators at eleven (11) pumping stations across the island.  The first three (3) generators are to be installed at Alleynedale, St Lucy and at Newmarket and Sweet Bottom in St. George.  The effort is yet another civil-military (CIMIC) project undertaken in assistance to Civil Ministries (MACM) to ensure resilience and readiness prior to the start of the 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season. These generators will ensure continuous electrical supply to the major pumping stations should there be power outages during the passage of severe weather systems.

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Commanding Officer of the Barbados Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Lovell during his site visit to the project locations noted that there is great potential for the BDF’s engineers to expand with a view to developing a more robust and effective national capability with a specific focus on disaster mitigation, response and even the maintenance of national infrastructure.  While the BDF’s Engineering subunit is very small numerically, like other elements of the BDF it “often punches above its weight class.” Throughout the Force’s history, the building engineers have been immensely effective due in large part to the military culture of discipline, determination and commitment. The benefits of investment in an expanded and better equipped engineering subunit would be of tremendous value to Barbados and in an expeditionary way within the RSS. There are also significant opportunities for youth development.

In addition to their primary responsibility for the maintenance of the physical infrastructure of the BDF, the subunit has contributed to national and regional rehabilitation in the aftermath of a disasters in Grenada (2004 after the passage of Hurricane Ivan), Dominica (Storm Erica in 2015 and Hurricane Maria in 2017), and recently with repairs at the Geriatric Hospital in Bay Street (2018).

Highlights