Health heroes celebrated during monthlong activities
Published:Wednesday | July 6, 2022 | 12:05 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Romey-Ann Hibbert, a midwife and nurse assigned to Noel Holmes Hospital in Hanover and a member of the executive of the Nurses Association of Jamaica, said she has witnessed lives change during the height of the pandemic when uncertainty persisted and patients were on their deathbeds.
She told The Gleaner that things were difficult because many healthcare staff had expressed fear as they fought on the front lines.
“But somebody has to do the work,” Hibbert said, noting that despite challenges faced, she and other nurses knew exactly what they had signed up for.
Speaking about her own personal journey, she said she travelled with God for a dose of daily protection. It was her faith, she added, that brought some calm to the storm.
“I was one of those persons that went in and said, ‘God, I’m going in with you and I am going to do my best,’ and believe me, I have watched lives turn around that ... probably would not have survived otherwise,” she said.
Hibbert was in attendance at a national thanksgiving church service held at the Boulevard Baptist Church on Sunday to kick-start the commemoration of July as Healthcare Workers Appreciation Month, under the theme ‘Honouring commitment, service and sacrifice’.
During the service, the tremendous sacrifices made by over 25,000 healthcare professionals working on the front lines when the deadly coronavirus first struck the island on March 10, 2020, were commended.
Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, in his remarks, expressed gratitude for the efforts made by workers putting their own lives at risk in order to preserve the lives of many Jamaicans who contracted and battled with the virus.
“From our porters, to our nurses, doctors, data clerks, community health aides to all other categories of health staff, your commitment and resilience has not gone unnoticed. You have been our health heroes, coping with your personal anxieties and concerns for your own health and wellness and that of your family and friends in order to continue to care for the Jamaican people,” he said.
Dr Brian James, president of the Medical Association of Jamaica, sought to assure during a Gleaner interview that healthcare workers operating within the private sector are not forgotten during these celebrations.
He also commended the efforts of the health ministry, stating that “it speaks to ... the commitment and the sacrifice that people have made in order to confront this thing that was dangerous”.
“[The pandemic] had a lot of dangers and uncertainties in it and yet people stepped up. [Some] actually even made the ultimate sacrifice,” he added, noting that he personally knew a total of 10 healthcare workers who died from the virus, five being doctors.
Jamaica, to date, has recorded 3, 144 deaths and an overall case count of 143,347 COVID-19 cases.
James, who recalled receiving a number of calls from distraught healthcare workers during the crisis as they were severely impacted psychologically, said it is a good time for the authorities to show their appreciation and that it was appropriate for the Jamaican Government to designate them as heroes of the two-year pandemic during these celebrations.
The Government, during the course of the month, will be unveiling a monument in honour of healthcare workers who died from COVID-19 while battling the disease on the front lines.