Brown’s Town Health Department gets boost from JN members

AS JAMAICA continues to fight the spread of COVID-19, the Brown’s Town Health Centre in St Ann has received a boost from JN members,who will increase the health facility’s capacity to monitor the temperature of patients and improve the comfort level for patients waiting to be seen by health professionals.

The donation of thermometers, chairs, and sanitisers is being led by the JN Circle chapter in Brown’s Town, St Ann, to support the health centre, which provides primary care to some 42,000 residents from in and around Brown’s Town. The facility attends to approximately 300 persons daily.

“We are seeing more people coming into the health centre, not just for COVID, but generally, we are seeing more persons. Can you imagine, if someone feels like they having a little cough, a little sniffle, a little fever, they are coming to the health centre to see what is going on? So definitely, we are seeing more people,” reported Nadia Nunes, parish manager at the St Ann Health Department.

She noted that the donations, during the final episode of the JN Circle Catch Up online series, will allow the centre to screen persons quicker.

“This donation will help us to send people through faster. A hand-held thermometer will allow us to check temperatures faster. Rather than going under the arm [of the patient, you simply point [the infrared gun at the forehead of the patient], get the recording, and know what’s going on,” she added.

The parish manager also stated that the additional chairs will be placed outside of the cramped facility to facilitate physical distancing of at least six feet between patients who are waiting to be seen by a health professional. In addition, a handwash station will also be established by the Circle so that patients will have an opportunity to practise proper hand hygiene.

Behind St Catherine, the Corporate Area, Clarendon, and St Mary, St Ann has the highest number of infections of the disease, with 15 persons. However, the effects of the disease remain relatively mild locally, with most patients exhibiting no symptoms to only mild symptoms of the disease.