Various organizations will be showcasing how they can best benefit people in terms of Wellness and the organizers will be set the Fair up in a way that members of the community can come and move freely from station to station and participate in demos, registration drives or be provided specific information from each of the group’s on show at the Wellness celebrations this year. Photo: Provided

Caribbean Wellness Day Activities 2012 in the First District conducted by the BVI Health Promotion Unit. Photo: Facebook

Caribbean Wellness Day Activities 2012 in the First District conducted by the BVI Health Promotion Unit. Photo: Facebook

Caribbean Wellness Day Activities 2012 in the First District conducted by the BVI Health Promotion Unit. Photo: Facebook

Caribbean Wellness Day Activities 2012 in the First District conducted by the BVI Health Promotion Unit. Photo: Facebook

The activity will also serve as the launch for the East End/Long Bay Wellness Committee whose task is to collaborate among residents, agencies and government, to plan and coordinate social, physical and environment changes that will enhance the health and well-being of community members.

The event also follows on from the Fun/Run Walk organized for Friday, September 13, 2013.

The Physical Activity sub-committee is organizing the event which starts and finished from the Band Stand in Roadtown with a 3.30pm Registration and a 4pm Start time.

According to one of the organizers, Tash Ruschienski the reason behind the afternoon start is to try and encourage as much participation as possible from businesses “The idea is that companies will allow their employees to take a few hours off to do the walk/run, everyone dresses up in their respective companies t-shirts and we get as many people involved as possible and hopefully encourage the start of a more healthy lifestyle and a happier, healthier workforce."

As for the East End Fair, that is set to start at 4.30pm and run until around 8pm. 

Various organizations will be showcasing how they can best benefit people in terms of Wellness and the organizers will  be set the Fair up in a way that members of the community can come and move freely from station to station and participate in demos, registration drives or be provided specific information from each of the group’s on show. 

Various Sporting Associations or Federations are expected to be on hand during the afternoon as well. 

The observance of Caribbean Wellness Day was one of the decisions taken by the CARICOM Heads of Government when they met in Port of Spain, Trinidad on September 17, 2007 to design a plan of action to stop the epidemic of chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs); this came out of a deep concern about the physical, economic, and social burdens caused by lifestyle related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, respiratory diseases like asthma, obesity and cancers. 

Observed annually on the second Saturday in September, Caribbean Wellness Day showcases national and community level activities to promote healthy living and to encourage residents to develop good health and dietary practices. 

The main objective of the campaign is to build awareness of the importance of achieving small, but realistic health oriented goals that can be maintained beyond the Caribbean Wellness Day. These include eating healthier foods, advocating for smoke free environments, getting regular exercise, reducing stress and having regular health checks - health practices that can be achieved through consistent, gentle practice, rather than drastic unsustainable activity.