Volunteers hit the road

Residents have no reason to fear Operation Seek and Save, the ambitious Government initiative which rolled out earlier today and is intended to hit the majority of households over the next two weeks.

Coordinator of the project Dr Dion Greenidge, who serves as Programme Coordinator of the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies’s M.Sc. in Management, gave the assurance that the privacy of those interviewed would be protected and all the information they share would be taken using the strictest COVID-19 protocols.

His commitment was given as the campus began deploying hundreds of student volunteers into communities across the island yesterday.

Dr Greenidge explained that the volunteers were trained in ethics and signed confidentiality clauses to protect all information collected.

The students are gathering information on COVID-19 and dengue fever which will be used by the Ministry of Health to develop initiatives to bolster the national response to the two health fights.

The data gathering exercise began the same day that a two-week national pause in which most commercial activity has been halted and a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew came into effect

To date, Barbados has recorded 15 COVID-19-related deaths and has 359 active cases on record. Additionally, at least three people have died as a result of dengue fever.

Student volunteers told Barbados TODAY that they needed to step up and assist.

“I’m very young and I don’t want COVID-19 to be here forever so I’m helping my country battle this virus,” said second-year student Jakeela Hinds, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Education.

“I also have a young niece and I would like her and others to enjoy their youth as much as possible.”

Third-year student Shanice Carter was just as eager to do her part to help Barbados.

“It is important to help curb the spread of the virus and inform people why they should stay indoors, keep safe, sanitize their hands and things like that,” she said.

Prior to heading into the field, the students were screened and provided with field kits that included face masks and hand sanitisers to be used over the 11 days of the national exercise.

They were also instructed not to enter homes and to conduct the survey from the recommended six feet distance.

“I do a lot of volunteering with the campus and outside the institution as well. I just see this as a good way to give back and it’s something I like doing,” said third-year student Cherish Lashley.

On hand for the start of the exercise were members of the Barbados Defence Force (BDF), who are accompanying each of the teams that would be visiting the 30 constituencies.

“All the logistics are working as planned and that’s testimony to the hard work of individuals,” Dr. Greenidge noted.

“We have a team of M.Sc. Business
Analytics students which has been working around the clock from Monday on the logistics. Those students actually built the system themselves in the last five days or so and tested it.”

Overall, around 400 students were reportedly trained under The University of the West Indies-Government of Barbados COVID-19 Evaluation and Testing Project or Operation Seek and Save. (WILLCOMM)