 The community of La Clare hosted the second leg of the Caribbean Family Wellness Day Outreach organized by the Ministry of Health with UNICEF as one of the partners. UNICEF's program coordinator Vincent Lewis noted his organization's desire to see every child grow and develop to achieve his or her full potential. Of particular concern was the prevalence of lifestyle diseases. As you know, obesity is a major concern here for us in St. Lucia. We also have a very high prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. And so events like this are important to help build awareness and achieve behavior change. For now we are focusing on diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease because along with those cancer and suicide we are finding that these are the highest costs of death throughout our island. Dr. Jenny Isaac-Louise said the Caribbean Family Wellness Day was also meant to assure patrons that non-communicable diseases can be managed. So we are here to highlight that even if you have a chronic condition that you can still be well. You can be well with a chronic condition. You don't have to be sick and that is why we are focusing on overall wellness. I think it's one of the key things to help us with overall wellness. The St. Lucia Cancer Society was among health agencies represented. It had a critical message for the youth. We are showing the ladies how to do their own breast examination and also the men how to do their own testicular examination because we find a lot of the young people especially they do not know how to do their breast examination. Mental health was also in focus with the representatives of the Mental Health Unit engaging attendees of the Caribbean Family Wellness Day in La Claree. So basically when you come to the booth you'll get information on mental health, taking care of your mental health, whether service is provided and what we as a community mental health do in the community. Those in attendance were pleased with the Caribbean Family Wellness Day activities. Most have taken advantage of the free consultations and tests on offer. I did not regress it because it's very beneficial for those who are growing more and those who don't. It is the hope of the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and other partners that the key messages of lifestyle modification, exercise and healthy eating will help reduce the high rate of diabetes, hypertension and other non-communicable diseases.