Riding the challenge

The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have often taken centre stage because of the illness, economic turmoil and death that it has caused. But behind the scenes, young Barbadians have also been making the most of a bad situation.

One such person is Reco Harewood, who, after working with horses for as long as he could remember, shifted his focus to a career in public health.

The young man, who hails from Tweedside Road, St Michael, was unable to practice as a jockey since the spread of the virus locally last year left him unemployed for the first few months of the pandemic.

But as the country grappled with a deadly COVID-19 second wave, he took advantage of an opportunity to work in environmental services at the Harrison Point Isolation Facility.

“When I started doing training, it started to spark something and as I came here on a day-to-day basis, it got better,” Harewood told Barbados TODAY.

“I told myself I wanted to try taking it further and with the help of [Director of Isolation Facilities] Dr Corey Forde and others, it became easier.”

When he started in February, he was part of the team responsible for the sanitization of the St Lucy facility to contain the deadly infections.

“It was difficult moving into a whole new daily routine where you have to remember to do this and remember to do that, and this was basically the hardest part,” Harewood explained. “It was all about knowing what was going on at first, about infections and protocols that you must stick to.”

With time, the young man rose to the rank of departmental aid, where he now engages and oversees sanitization of the plant.

He told Barbados TODAY that he intends to transfer the knowledge gained to other healthcare facilities on the island for the benefit of the wider society.

During a recent interview, Dr Forde lauded the cadre of previously unskilled youth brought in to staff the isolation facilities, at a time when their country needed them most.

“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,” he 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.”