RAISING AWARENESS TO REDUCE INSTANCES OF KIDNEY FAILURE

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

WITH March observed as kidney month, The Bahamas Kidney Association is urging people to wear green in support.

This year’s kidney month will be celebrated under the theme ‘Kidney Health for All-Preparing for the unexpected, supporting the vulnerable’. Every Friday in the month of March the association is encouraging people to wear green to spread awareness.

Tamika Roberts, president of BKA, said the association’s vision is to reduce the instances of kidney failure in The Bahamas and to improve the lives of those persons affected by kidney disease.

“March is kidney month, and the Bahamas Kidney Association joins the kidney community around the world in raising awareness of kidney health,” Ms Roberts said.

“During the month of March, our efforts are heightened as we encourage the public to take the necessary steps to keep their kidneys safe and healthy. And more importantly, we focus on bringing to the forefront those who fight lifelong battles every day.”

With a mission of increasing public awareness of the functions of the kidneys and the measures to prevent themselves with necessary skills and tools to take up positions and opportunities in the workplace.

The attorney encouraged women to exude confidence.

“We also have to be our own advocates,” she said. “Advancement is not going to fall in our laps, we are going to have to go out and get it.”

“So, women, it is a difficult battle, but we must overcome the tendency to sit small. If you are amiable and nurturing, they say you do not have enough fire in your belly, you are not qualified for leadership, you do not have the grit to lead. And if you are assertive and confident, you are too bossy, and nobody likes you. And so, I say, let us all be our most confident self whichever category you lean toward.” the industry’s gross profit margin is largely fixed at a time when a wide variety of expenses are rising, he noted that payment of business licences for fuel retailers is approaching.

Finding balance between work, family and self is also important, said Mrs Pintard.

Lastly, she noted that women cannot continue to advance without men.

Mrs Pintard said she is grateful for those men who seek to advance women as equal members of society.

“I salute men like my husband, our party leader, who always has been a constant support and source of strength for me in my career development. Men who shun the patriarchal bias and recognize that women are not their property, but their equal,” she stated.

She urged women not to allow society to put limitations on them that God did not place there. “Do not allow anyone to put you in a box based on their stereotypical belief of what you are able to achieve,” said Mrs Pintard.

With the payment deadline scheduled for March 31, Mr Bastian said that fuel operators are seeking the assistance of the government in adjusting the cost, as they are required to pay based on gross turnover.

“You have to file (the business licence) by December 31, and then payment is due by March 31,” he told this newspaper in a recent interview.

“We’ll be trying to get them to see if we could have a look at that because you could only imagine what gas station operators throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas pay for business licences.”

He continued: “You know, we (fuel operators) pay business licences on gross turnover, not net profit. When gas was at $7.39, I think it was the highest last summer, you could only imagine what it costs to purchase that and to now have to pay business licence on gross turnover, not on net profit doesn’t make any sense.”

Margins for petroleum dealers have not been increased since 2011, when the last Hubert Ingraham-led Free National Movement administration was in office.

Mr Bastian had previously credited the Progressive Liberal Party for being the “most” accommodating administration within the last 15 years, while emphasising the importance of the association maintaining a “professional” level of communication with the government.