SUNDAY 3 FEBRUARY 2019 – UWI TODAY
3
EDITORIAL TEAM
CAMPUS PRINCIPAL
Professor Brian Copeland
AG. DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
AND COMMUNICATIONS
Wynell Gregorio
AG. EDITOR
Joel Henry
email:
CONTACT US
The UWI Marketing and
Communications Office
Tel: (868) 662-2002, exts. 82013 / 83997
or email:
Inmany cultures throughout the world the NewYear
is
seen as a time of rebirth and renewal – a new beginning.
As individuals, as a campus community and as a society,
we have a fresh opportunity for development, for
reflecting on, resetting and achieving our goals, and for
redoubling our determination to overcome the inevitable
obstacles. As such, while it may be just a fad for many,
the age-old tradition of making NewYear resolutions can
be an effective means to strategically make the course
corrections required to make for a more meaningful
life. Like with everything else, it is what you make of it.
We have much to do in 2019. The challenges we face
have been ventilated at length – economic development,
innovation, more aggressive entrepreneurship, climate
change, food security, crime, social development, gender
discrimination and more. We have no shortage of issues.
However, we can and must embrace the challenges that
accompany these issues with powerful, positive energy.
We can and must tackle our obstacles with audacity and
a hopeful outlook.
One of our greatest assets in life is our health –
physical, mental and emotional. All too often wemeasure
success only in economic indicators. But as the late Arlen
Specter, US Senator for the state of Pennsylvania, once
said, “There’s nothing more important than our good
health – that’s our principal capital asset”. Few, if any,
would contest this. We all have our experiences with the
suffering, and ultimate demise caused by the ill-health of
family, friends and acquaintances. For obvious reasons,
the preservation of this capital asset is of significant
importance at the community and national levels. It is
a key factor in the development and sustenance by our
citizens of a state with an acceptably high standard of
living; at the same time, and as the Trinidad and Tobago
Minister of Health has pointed out onmany an occasion,
an overburdened health system drains the national
coffers of funds that could be allocated to other national
development priorities. National health and wellness
influence national success in the social and economic
spheres. In that regard, it is the duty of the citizens of any
country to take responsibility for their personal health
and well-being, and for ensuring that the powers that be
do their utmost in providing all the requisite services and
support in providing for a healthy nation.
At the University of the West Indies we understand
the importance of health, fitness and wellness. This
understanding is reflected in our research, courses of
study, and our activities on and off campus. As such, we
have made these quality of life drivers the focus of this
February 2019 issue of UWI Today.
In 2017, UWI’s Regional Headquarters launched
the new Faculty of Sport – a dramatic manifestation of
our commitment to sports and physical education and
literacy. The Faculty is the first cross-campus Faculty
led by a single Dean, Dr Akshai Mansingh, originally
from the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Mona. The
St Augustine Academy of the Faculty has Professor
Emeritus Funso Aiyejina as its interimhead. The Faculty
will prepare Caribbean athletes and sports industry
professionals to take part in a global industry that is
estimated to be worth as much as US$700 billion a year
in 2016.
(Ref.:https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/
in/pdf/2016/09/the-business-of-sports.pdf).
However, even as it focusses on the elite athletes
among us, the Facultywill seek to exploit the opportunities
for character-building and improving fitness as a health
benefit for all. We have, at this campus, tossed around
the idea of our role of infusing a strong physical literacy
culture in our regional space. This goes beyond what
we normally envisage as “physical education” through
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
PROFESSOR BRIAN COPELAND
Campus Principal
HEALTHY RESOLUTIONS
mastery of mind and body, effectively striving for each
individual to optimise the development and use of every
facet of their physical bodies. It would entail, for example,
focussed attention from a very early age, on functions
as basic as walking and sleeping. Physical literacy was
briefly discussed in an earlier issue of UWI Today; we
will be exploring the topic further at UWI.
In the areas of sport and fitness, this past January
UWI St Augustine had the pleasure of hosting top-level
cricket at both the local and international level. From
January 5 to 27, teams from Trinidad and Tobago took
part in the UWI-Unicom T20 Cricket Tournament.
Almost simultaneously, from January 10 to 20, the
Campus held the inaugural UWIWorld Universities T20
Tournament. This tournament brought together student
cricketers fromuniversities in the Caribbean, UK andUS.
This incredible cricket event is the product of
the work of UWI’s pioneers in the area of sports and
fitness education. Starting in the 1990s, advocates and
influencers such as VC Professor Sir Hilary Beckles
rejuvenated the University’s cricketing legacy. At St
Augustine, Dr Iva Gloudon, our former Director of Sport
and Physical Education, was instrumental in the creation
of UWI SPEC in 2003.
In this issue we also look at groundbreaking research
into the prevalence of dementia in Trinidad and Tobago
by a research team from the Faculty of Medical Sciences
(FMS). The results are sobering. Their findings show that
our rates are disproportionately high, affecting almost 1
in 4 people over the age of 70 and nearly half of those
over the age of 85. This has major implications for our
elderly, their loved ones and the health care system.
The research was carried out in partnership with the
University’s Health Economic Unit and the Ministry
of Health. I applaud all participants in this impactful
and collaborative exercise. The next step is to use the
research to influence policy in this matter of vital national
importance. I am pleased to see that this is underway.
Our Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences,
Professor Terence Seemungal, continues to be one of
our best ambassadors to the national community and
an outspoken proponent for health and wellness. In
December of 2018, he superbly represented the Campus
at the Trinidad and Tobago Medical Association’s
(T&TMA) 24th Annual Medical Research Conference
on the topic of mental health. Professor Seemungal
not only spoke about the causes of mental illness and
the University’s work both on and off campus in mental
health research and treatment, but also made a call for
greater empathy and support for those stricken with the
condition.
Just as Professor Seemungal and other members
of our campus community went out to spread their
knowledge to the public, UWI also invited the public to
the St Augustine Campus to engage in a conversation on
health towards the end of 2018. Specifically, Professor
Yuri Clement of the Pharmacology Unit at FMS gave
his Professorial Inaugural Lecture on “Preserving Our
Herbal Medicine Tradition” inNovember at the Teaching
and Learning Complex. Professor Clement gave an
engaging presentation about the need for herbal medicine
to be backed by thorough scientific research. This can
only serve to strengthen the practice of traditional
medicine, a practice that is not at all unfamiliar to the
people of Trinidad and Tobago.
In closing, I would like to mention the wellness
initiatives created specifically for the campus community.
From January to April of this year, UWI SPEC will be
hosting its “Wellness Initiative Programme”, a range of
activities from Zumba, to aqua aerobics, to boot camp
andmore, for students, staff and their friends and family.
In addition, we continue to offer a range of psychological
support services to students who are often impacted by
the pressures of academic life and young adulthood;
such as the Counselling and Psychological Service
(CAPS). Among these services is our “Healing Garden”,
an initiative of the Health Services Unit working with the
Eastern Horticultural Club that combines natural space
and earthen design for therapeutic support.
I welcome the entire campus community to visit the
Healing Garden, take a meditative break, and find the
healing you need to make 2019 a happy, prosperous and
productive year. Let’s resolve to improve our quality of
life, starting from deep within.
