St Matthews gives office space to Cayman Heart Fund

(CNS): To help the Cayman Heart Fund in its fight against heart disease and one of its main causes, obesity, St Matthews University recently made office space available within its campus for the Fund’s first paid employee, the aptly named  Thinn Aung, to operate. Aung, who is a trained counsellor, is very active in the fight against childhood obesity and overweight children, along with other members of the Health4Youth programme. In a release, CHF said the non-profit organisation was grateful to the university and its Dean of Basic Sciences, Dr. Senthil Kumar, who is one of the Fund’s board members, for the offer of space for an office.

The Cayman Heart Fund has grown rapidly and has many community projects which require a place for organisation and implementation of its programmes such as the War on Weight, free community screenings, its annual Heart Health Fair, Ken Chand Run, Obesity Task Force participation and in the Health4Youth project, as well as fund raising.

St Matthews University students and faculty have developed a strong relationship with the Cayman Heart Fundin the past few years, having worked closely with the Fund at its annual Heart Health Fair and symposiums.

Dr. Kumar, who is also an Associate Professor of Pharmacology & Clinical Therapeutics at St. Matthew’s University, said the students at St Matthews cherish their relationship with the Cayman Heart Fund and that he is delighted that the University is able to assist in this way. “The childhood obesity programme, which was implemented at the George Hicks campus earlier this year, has a made a significant impact on Cayman society and we are glad to make this minor contribution by offering the Cayman Heart Fund a physical space from which to work,” he said.

Suzy Soto, Chairman of Cayman Heart Fund is extremely pleased with the continuing partnership with St Matthews. “Having Dr Kumar on board at the Cayman Heart Fund has been a huge bonus to us because we have been able to make the connection with the St Matthews students, who have been of great use to the Fund, volunteering their time, which has been invaluable to us. We are extremely thankful to St Matthews for the donation of office space which will aid us tremendously in our fight against obesity in Cayman’s youth. Ultimately everyone will benefit from such a kind gesture,” she said.

Photo top: Dr. R. Senthil Kumar, St Matthews; Suzy Soto, Cayman Heart Fund; and Thinn Aung, Cayman Heart Fund.