SRHA staff applauded for heroic service

WESTERN BUREAU:

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has heaped praise on healthcare workers attached to the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA), particularly those in St Elizabeth, for the role they played during and after the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

Addressing SRHA’s Staff Appreciation Awards Gala at Lovers’ Leap in St Elizabeth last Thursday, Tufton said the dedication of more than 800 healthcare workers helped save lives and restore essential services following the Category 5 hurricane, which resulted in some of them suffering personal losses.

“The difference between you and the crisis is that you have to pick up your marble and go to work, even though you are victims, too,” Tufton told the staffers.

He recalled arriving at the Black River Hospital shortly after the hurricane and seeing doctors and other medical personnel coordinating emergency responses despite being traumatised by their own losses.

Tufton recounted efforts in Brampton to rescue a doctor, who had sustained life-threatening injuries, and the evacuation of an expectant mothers, who required urgent medical attention.

He also noted that some healthcare workers remained on duty for days, even after learning that their homes had been destroyed.

“Some [staffers] never reached their house because they were on duty for days. They only heard through telephone – talking and word of mouth – that their house was gone, and all they wanted to find out was that the children were alive,” he said. “They were at their posts, and they never abandoned their posts.”

Tufton used the occasion to inform the staffers that Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness is expected to join him in Black River on October 28 for the reopening of Black River Hospital, which was severely damaged by the hurricane.

The restored facility will have two major ward spaces, 30 additional beds, two operating theatres, modernised equipment and staff quarters, increasing its bed capacity from 150 to 180. Work is also continuing on the maternity ward and administrative block.

Tufton praised healthcare workers for helping restore normality within 12 months despite the scale of the devastation.

“Do not devalue that sentiment that allowed the fighting spirit of the Jamaican people and healthcare worker to allow us 12 months on to be able to sit in this room and to smile and look back and become stronger for it,” he said.

He urged Jamaica to learn from the disaster, stressing the need to strengthen healthcare infrastructure and improve preparedness for future hurricanes.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com