Seniors Pampered on Senior Citizens' Care Day

The Meadowvale Seventh-day Adventist church in Kingston was the center of activities for senior citizens in the East Jamaica Conference on October 5, 2025, when senior citizens were made to feel special by the care and health services offered to them at no cost and with love. Over fifty seniors benefited from blood pressure and blood sugar tests, cholesterol tests, body massages, manicures, pedicures, facials, or had their hair combed. The seniors were also addressed by health professionals who shared important information about their mental health.   

President of the East Jamaica Conference Senior Citizens' Association, Kathleen Dunkley, made it clear that they intended to make the day meaningful and special for the seniors who are sometimes forgotten in society and who sometimes fall into depression when feelings of neglect overtake them.

 

"Today is a very special day for our seniors. We have invited them because we want to pamper them. They are a special group to us," Dunkley added.  "Our seniors have offered a lot and have served us well in the past.  We want them to be as healthy as possible and look nice, and feel special. “

For many, the day will long be remembered, including ninety-one-year-old Vincent Cox and his wife,  Vera, ninety-two,  who both expressed appreciation for the senior citizens care day when it is time for them to return home. The couple, who have been married for over sixty-five years, were pleased with the service they received on the care day and were happy they came to receive a benefit.

 

"I did the massage and it was very good," said Vincent, and his wife, Vera, took advantage of both a manicure and a pedicure. " I am feeling wonderful," she said when asked to give feedback on the service she received.

Eighty-four-year-old Norma Edwards from the Meadowvale SDA Church expressed a similar sentiment when it was time for her to depart as well. "I came here to get my health checked and to get a massage", Edwards said,  noting that she saw the advertisement about the Care Day on her phone in her church’s Women’s ministry WhatsApp group. “I have had my blood pressure checked and did my sugar and cholesteral tests as well. Thank God all the tests are normal so I am in good health," she added with a smile.

Daisy Wilson, a retired nurse practitioner from the Meadowvale Church, was part of the care team that volunteered her time and expertise to ensure the seniors felt special and received the promised health care. "My duty today is to give counsel to the seniors who might have high blood pressure or high cholesterol and to give advice to them on how they can control these readings with their diet and exercise to reduce these readings. "Daisy said. "High blood pressure is not normal, and if you don't reduce it, you can easily get a stroke," she said.

 

More than fifty seniors turned up to the care day, which was billed as a day when seniors would be made to feel special. It was quite noticeable that the women outnumbered the men by far. One of the few men who turned up was Bro  Winston Keith McCallah from the  Meadowvale Senior Citizens'  Association, who came for a pedicure. "I came to do the pedicure, and  I think it is quite a refreshing thing for the body", McCallah said.

Edorith Mowatt Maines from the Sterling Castle Methodist Church saw a post about the Senior Citizens Care day on her mobile phone and decided to visit the location out of curiosity. " I came here mostly to get my hair done, and I appreciate what was done for me because a few years ago, I fell and injured my left arm. I had to do therapy on my arm, but it is still not able to go right up, so I am unable to plait my own hair. I don't live with family members, so it is difficult to get assistance with combing my hair most times. "I am truly happy that this young lady took the time out to help me with my hair. I am seventy-one years old and am thanking God for what was done for me here today. It was a blessing.”