The Center for Multicultural Wellness and Prevention Inc. (CMWP) in collaboration with Florida Hospital, Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce of Florida, Greater Haitian Chamber of Commerce of Orlando and the Orange County Health Department have teamed up to host the 10th Annual Caribbean Health Summit that will be held on September 8th, 2012 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds, located on 4603 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, Florida. The event will start at 8:00 am and ends at 2:00pm.

The Health Summit will provide participants from the Central Florida and Caribbean communities of all ages, access to free health screenings, information and educational seminars related to health maintenance with an emphasis on enhancing the health, wellness and quality of life for each individual.

This year’s event, with the theme “A Healthy Community Begins With You”, will feature a new format of presenting relevant and updated information to both the public and the medical practitioners alike. These topics will be presented in the form of a symposium that will be held on Friday, September 7th, 2012 from 9:00am to 4:00pm. The symposium will address topics such as HIV, hypertension, stroke, mental health and childhood obesity.

The theme of the event was selected to help people to recognize that healthy individuals will bring about healthy and productive communities. Dr. Marie Francois, executive director of CMWP, says that “the undertaking of an event of this magnitude and importance requires a lot of coordination of resources, but without the help and support of the community partners and sponsors, we would not be able to reach as many people”. Dr. Francois also went on to say that “we will continue to work with our community partners and sponsors to ensure that people recognize the value of making healthy choices and to be proactive in getting screened early”.

The Annual Caribbean Health Summit has had a significant impact on the Central Florida’s communities over the past nine years. The event have been able to provide free screenings to thousands of people for hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, HIV, lung function, prostate, breast and cervical cancer. Through these screenings many abnormal results have been detected and many lives have been saved in the process. Individuals with abnormal results will have a chance to talk to medical personnel to get first-hand information and will also be referred to the appropriate medical provider.

The Center for Multicultural Wellness and Prevention is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit organization with the mission to enhance the health, wellness and quality of life for diverse and ethnic populations in Central Florida. CMWP has a well-defined history of providing health education and outreach to Central Florida’s minority population. CMWP is an established non-clinical, health education and outreach agency in Orlando, Florida. The organization has successfully partnered with community and social agencies to effectively address the health education and disparity needs of Central Florida’s minority communities. For more information about the Center for Multicultural Wellness and Prevention Inc., please call (407)648-9440 or visit our website at www.cmwp.org