The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

Social media and word of mouth on the island of Eleuthera are spreading the news of a medical centre that is set to make a huge difference in the community.

The Eleuthera Community Healthcare Initiative (ECHI), a non-profit organisation, has as its mission to improve access to essential medical and wellness services for all residents and visitors on Eleuthera.

Founded by Dr Arlington Lightbourne, ECHI is led by a local board of trustees and chaired by Pastor Martin Kemp.

The organisation's current goal is the imminent opening of a comprehensive private medical centre that will provide primary care and wellness services in its first phase, including access to a paediatrician, a gynaecologist, wellness doctors, wellness coaches and nutritionists.

This will be closely followed by the second phase which will offer 24/7 urgent care services including on site X-rays, stat labs, improved training and development of ground ambulance services. During this phase team members will also seek to offer specialist clinics for dermatology, oncology, urology and gastroenterology among others.

"Eleuthera stands out from the rest of the Bahamas with a very high incidence of individuals diagnosed with cancers much later than their Nassau counterparts. The island's economy has been stagnated by the relative lack of essential medical services like urgent care," said Chinnici McDonald, administrator of Cancer Society of Eleuthera and membership coordinator of ECHI.

To ensure access, Ms McDonald said ECHI has adopted a membership-based approach where 3,000 individuals will have unlimited access to primary care physician and nutritionist visits as well as urgent care services for $40 per month for adults and $30 per month for children.

She said ECHI has partnered with the Cancer Society of Eleuthera among other organisations to facilitate its mission. Ms McDonald said ECHI exemplifies what is possible when communities come together to make things happen.

As stated by Dr Lightbourne, Ms McDonald said the overall goal of the initiative is help make Eleuthera the wellness capital of the Bahamas; providing a growing, reliable, sustainable medical centre accessible to all residents and visitors to Eleuthera.

"Our goal is to make Eleuthera the healthiest Family Island and the wellness capital of the Bahamas. This is important to me because of the net benefit to the community, especially because Dr Lightbourne and the ECHI board have pledged that part proceeds of the centre will be donated to the Cancer Society of Eleuthera to help fund vital programmes like cancer prevention education, cancer screening and treatment of cancer victims," she said.

The current medical services available on the island do not adequately meet the growing medical needs of Eleuthera. Dr Lightbourne said he believes that given the archipelagic make-up of the Bahamas, and the fact the Bahamians can live anywhere throughout our 700 islands and cays, it is unreasonable and unsustainable to expect that the government can provide high levels of essential services for every island.

"ECHI could be a more sustainable model for the future of healthcare on the Family Islands," said Ms McDonald.

For more information, contact 828-7545, 395-5296 or 332-1804.