GDDA-UK at Party in the Park, Cockfosters, London 16th July 2022

Exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling, our very first GDDA-UK Health Screening Outreach Event in London UK was a raving success! The event started at 12 noon after a period of setting up in the morning and our first client came in at 12:30pm. We screened many people for both Blood pressure and Dental health checks and they were ever so grateful to see Ghanaian Doctors, Dentists, and Nurses whom they could comfortably speak to, some in their own language, making it an enabling environment. Our clients were please they could explain themselves clearly and concisely and also the fact that we could better understand their needs. In addition, they commented on the fact that we explained their health conditions to them very clearly as well as any treatment options. All in all we saw 53 clients, 27 males and 26 females with the age group ranging from 13 to 64 years. We finished seeing all our clients and closed our stall at 7:00 pm. There were about 15 GDDA and non-GDDA volunteers on the day comprising of three Dentist, two Nurses, one Practice manager, one Community outreach personnel, one PhD student and the remainder were medics. The medics and nurses assisted with completing the medical forms and took the clients’ blood pressure, whereas the dentist undertook the dental inspections. Of note, we had a few people come round to see how we were getting on, which included the event organiser and our sponsor. We had a special visitor, the Ghana High Commissioner to the UK HE Papa Owusu-Ankomah, who was very impressed to see what we were doing. He stayed at our stall for a good few minutes, wanting to find out what we were doing, the process, the response from clients, and also how we felt about providing the service on an annual basis. He stayed for photos and spent a bit of time conversing with us, fulfilling his promise to come and see us at the event. All of our posters, banners, and T-shirts were sponsored by Ray Djan Junior who benevolently designed and made them, donating them to us. Our equipment by way of Blood pressure monitors, hand sanitises, masks, gloves, dental mirrors etc., were donated by all the volunteers who came in to help. Each one donated a few items required for the health screening, making it a very successful event. The event organisers were very impressed with GDDA-UK as we added a touch of professionalism to the event. They received a lot of positive feedback about us including that from their donors who said if they knew that we would be in attendance they would have enhanced their level of commitment. Based on all of the feedback the organisers received, they want GDDA-UK back every year and they want to include GDDA-UK in their promotional material. We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every GDDA member and non-GDDA member who volunteered as well as all the GDDA members and their family and friends who came to give us the much needed moral support. We hope to see more GDDA-UK members at next year’s event to help raise our profile and support our community. Dr William Kedjanyi Dr Pamela Abban Ohene-Djan President GDDA-UK Secretary GDDA-UK Volunteers on the day: Dr Pamela Abban Ohene Djan (Dentsit) Dr William Kedjanyi (ENT Surgeon) Dr Kofi Adu (Doctor) Dr Adwoa Yeboah Dr Chris Vondee (Dentist) Winnifred Ohene-Kissi (Cardiac Nurse) , Dr Alex Owusu-Ansah Dr Kevin Dapaah (Dentist)

Dr Adwoa Duku (GP) Winnifred Ohene-Kissi (Cardiac Nurse) George Noi-Lartey ( Outreach Organiser) Jerome Kafui (PhD student) Jo Kedjanyi (Public Health Practitioner) Patience Vondee ( Practice Manager)