The library grounds came alive on Friday, 26th September 2025, as Anguillians of all ages gathered for the annual Caribbean Wellness Fair, a community event that has quietly grown into one of the most anticipated stops on the health calendar.
This year’s theme — “Engage, Empower, Elevate: Working Together to Improve Health and Wellbeing for All” — was more than just a slogan. It played out in real time across the bustling booths and chatter of residents collecting free health checks, advice, and, perhaps most popular of all, vouchers for future screenings.
There was a bit of everything on offer: blood pressure checks, massages, counselling, HIV and AIDS testing, breast health screenings, physiotherapy, and even environmental health and pest control. If it touched your body, your mind, or your surroundings, it was covered. The range was wide enough to make even the most health-averse stop and take notice.
One booth that caught eyes — and raised some eyebrows — was labelled Tourism and Wellness. What does one have to do with the other? The answer came from Ms. Sari-Lee Benjamin, who was more than ready to connect the dots.
“How can we function as a tourism industry without a healthy workforce?” she asked, leaning in with conviction.
Benjamin explained that while Anguilla invests in training workers in customer service and public relations, the one ingredient often overlooked is health. “It’s important to have a healthy workforce, a healthy environment, because all that will drive our tourism industry. We need healthy people working in hotels, in schools, in clinics — everywhere. People may think, ‘why is tourism here?’ But health touches everything.”
That broader view of health ran like a thread through the fair. For the first time, a mental health awareness booth stood among the more familiar stations. In a country where mental health has long been whispered about, its presence was as timely as it was necessary. Mental wellness, after all, is inseparable from physical health. “It’s just as important,” said one attendee, nodding as she picked up a pamphlet. “Because when your mind isn’t right, your body feels it too.”
Environmental health also made its mark, underscoring the truth that health extends beyond cholesterol numbers and blood pressure readings. A clean environment, pest control, and safe surroundings all feed into the wider picture of well-being.
Overseeing it all was Jennifer Gumbs, Senior Health Educator and Chairperson for Caribbean Wellness in Anguilla, who reminded that the event is rooted in a regional movement that began almost two decades ago.
“Caribbean Wellness Day is an initiative that started way back in 2007 when the CARICOM heads of government came together because of the epidemic of chronic diseases in the region,” Gumbs explained. “They came together to look for a strategy where they can combat non-communicable diseases and they came up with Caribbean Wellness Day.”
Normally held on the second Saturday in September, Anguilla has expanded the idea beyond just a single day. “We realised it needs more than one day to promote health,” Gumbs said. “One of the things that we have done in Anguilla is that we have linked Caribbean Wellness Day with Prostate Cancer Month. Knowing that prostate cancer is also the leading cancer among black men in the world, the region, and including Anguilla, we’ve linked the two together.”
That link translated into free vouchers for prostate checks along with cholesterol, eye vision, and pap smears — courtesy of sponsors such as Caribbean Insurance Solutions, the Anguilla Cancer Society, MASA, and the Rotary Club of Anguilla.
Regarding prostate cancer awareness, Gumbs stressed the importance of early detection, particularly for men. “Early detection is always the best prevention. So, we are encouraging our men to get tested.”
If the turnout at this year’s health fair was anything to go by, Anguillians are willing to engage, empowered to take charge, and — just as the theme promised — elevate their health and wellbeing together.
By Janissa Fleming
