Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic today confirmed Barbados lost its first health care worker in the battle against COVID-19.
The nursing assistant died at the Harrison Point Isolation Facility in St Lucy where she was a patient for nine days.
On Saturday night, manager of isolation facilities, Dr Corey Forde, announced there were three people on ventilators at Harrison Point, including one health care professional. The story of her death made the rounds on social media on Sunday night before today’s confirmation.
Bostic said in an audio statement her passing “shook the nursing and health care communities yesterday”.
“Every day, health care workers in Barbados and across the world go into battle and put themselves at risk in an attempt to keep societies safe. They are our first line of defense, and we owe them an immense debt of gratitude for their service and sacrifice. In this daily fight that is waged across the globe, several health care workers have contracted COVID-19 while trying to save others,” he noted.
“Prior to yesterday, Barbados had so far been spared the loss of any of its health care workers and the cases of COVID among the QEH staff have largely been the result of community spread and not direct patient to caregiver contact.”
The Minister of Health said this should reinforce that “COVID is no respecter of age of persons and all of us must take it seriously” and “we in this country owe a responsibility to each other, to our communities, to our families to be more thoughtful, caring and protective of each other and to follow the health and safety protocols, or we will be placing not only ourselves, but someone else in harm’s way”.
In expressing sympathy to her family and friends, he again asked Barbadians to pray for nurses, doctors, orderlies, general workers and other frontline workers. (PR/SAT)
The full audio statement is below:
