Forde makes case for young people who turned up and fought for country in health crisis

The manager of Barbados’ COVID-19 isolation facilities is making a case for a team of healthcare professionals now trained as part of the national pandemic response, to be absorbed into the country’s healthcare system.

During an extended interview this week, Head of Infection Control Dr Corey Forde revealed that over the last 14 months, a formidable cadre of young people have been transformed into world-class public health professionals.

Hailing them as the “unsung heroes” of the pandemic, Forde explained that while other countries were drawing from their existing pool of professionals, Barbados has been training unskilled workers, from some of the country’s “roughest” communities to staff isolation facilities, while allowing the main healthcare facilities to function as normal.

“Some of these individuals never worked in the healthcare system before. For others, it was their first job, and I just really want to highlight that they are the true heroes in this process. Most of these persons had no training in health or minimal training in the healthcare sector and were able to come in and fight for Barbados at a time when it was most needed,” Dr Forde declared.

“I think the skills they have developed because of this are new and unique, and it is one of the things that I think we need to continue to do in Barbados. Some of them came from some of the ‘roughest’ areas you could think about in Barbados and were able to demonstrate that capacity to learn, perform and function. All of these individuals have all excelled in the facility,” he added.

According to Dr Forde, many of them opted to serve on the frontline of the pandemic, in the earliest days, when their only understanding of the virus was based on seeing hundreds of people dying on television.

Once in the system, the workers were subjected to rigorous training in areas like Client Relations, Infection Control and Environmental Services, along with an exhaustive list of on-site protocols intended to safeguard themselves, their colleagues, families, and society at large. According to Dr Forde, the training was instrumental in ensuring there were no COVID-19 fatalities among staff at isolation facilities – a feat that is unheard of in most other parts of the world.

“These are a few of the stories of Harrison Point which cannot be lost during this pandemic, and it demonstrates for me that young people in the country have the capacity to function, they have the capacity to do better, they have the capacity to learn, to get a skill and to move forward with that skill. But it requires us all in the country to recognise that not all young people are bad,” the infection control specialist contended.

“They all have skills, but one must find ways of developing those skills and I think this has been the story at Harrison’s Point and I believe it also must be the story of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) for the future,” he further suggested.

These days, the situation at the main St Lucy facility is markedly different from what it was months ago, when the country was locked in a deadly second wave of the virus. The latest statistics suggest that only 12 active cases exist throughout Barbados, which, on one hand is good news for the country, but it also means there’s less work to be done at the facility.

Dr Forde is however hopeful that the unique skills acquired will not be lost and that the cadre of young people would be absorbed into the public health system.

“I think it needs not to be lost and as a leader, and the director of isolation [facilities], that having seen the level of talent that some of our young people can provide, that we also certainly at an administrative level and those at a much higher level than me, need to recognise this and try as much as possible to utilise the unique skills that have been developed during this outbreak. I think it would be a travesty if any of these skills are lost back into the community,” said Forde.

“It is something that you hear me focus on, thanking the staff because I know from the start where they came from and I see where they developed to and I can almost foresee as a leader where they can end up if we as a country look and provide the opportunities for them in the various settings,” he urged.
(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)