-as they combat the Covid-19 pandemic

WHILE many have the option of remaining home or working on a shift/rotation system during the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, there are those who have to remain on the frontline to ensure that the general public remains healthy, safe and informed.
Nurse Bobb (only name given), a nurse attached to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), stated that the general public should show some sympathy to healthcare workers during this critical period.

“Nurses, we are at the frontline, we don’t have a choice, so I mean they should at least be sympathetic to us …I can’t step back from the fact that this is the career that I chose,” she stated.

Bobb and several of her co-workers have faced some grave stigmatization since Guyana has recorded its first case of novel coronavirus, earlier this month.

In expressing her disappointment with the stigmatization and discrimination nurses and doctors have faced, the nurse stated, “it’s kind of appalling that this is how the general public are treating the healthcare workers that they still have to turn around and ask for help at the end of the day.”

She added that nurses and doctors cannot adjust to the current shift/rotation system set up in the various work environments which makes it even more frustrating for them. “You know how they are doing the whole shift system now, you work you stay home you work. I’ve been working overtime, like I’m tired but I still have to come to work because I can’t leave the patients undone because they are still sick patients coming,” the young nurse stated.

Meanwhile, an officer attached to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) who requested to remain anonymous stated that he has been keeping himself up-to-date by following stories and articles from international media outlets about the Covid-19 pandemic and, while he is sympathetic to the patients, he is also sympathetic to the first responders who have to work tirelessly during the outbreak.

The officer who is stationed at Timehri added that during this health crisis, frontline workers like himself should be kept in prayers since they do not have the option, like other persons with traditional jobs, to stay home.

“We don’t have the option like other people, we are first responders, we still have to go to work. We still have to be at the airport. We still have to be guarding the borders. We still have to make sure that Guyana and its people are safe,” he stated.

He added that during this health crisis, not only Guyanese but persons everywhere even those who are not affected by the Covid-19 pandemic should stand in solidarity with the doctors, nurses, police officers and firemen who are constantly working around the clock during the health crisis.

Additionally, the man stated that he now has a profound respect for reporters and journalists as they too have to work during the pandemic to keep members of the public informed of what is occurring around them.

“Even reporters they have to keep working to get the story and to get the facts so that they could tell the public more about the virus and how to keep themselves protected,” he stated.