THE Ministry of Public Health has put the welfare of the elderly under the microscope in a bid to help stave off any outbreak of the deadly coronavirus among that particular population.

According to Dr. Melissa De Haarte, who is the Ministry’s Coordinator of Elderly Health, the exercise is spearheaded by the COVID-19 Mobile Unit, and so far the team has completed nine of the 18 homes officially documented in the Ministry’s registry in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica).

The Mobile Unit team is expected to complete the current exercise in the most populated of the country’s 10 Administrative Regions shortly, Dr. De Haarte said.
She said that as part of the team’s duties, they will “interview workers, caregivers and occupants, and take detailed history of their travels and contacts,” to determine who will be tested for the coronavirus if perchance someone might have been in contact with any COVID-19-positive patient.

Of the 21 Homes for the Elderly serviced by the MoPH, the Palms Geriatric Home on Brickdam, in Georgetown, which comes under the Ministry of Social Protection (MOSP), is the only one where residents have tested positive for the deadly virus.
In a media statement last Thursday, the MoSP said five residents, four of whom are male, and a Patient Care Assistant (PCA) tested positive for the COVID-19 virus at the Palms Elderly Care Facility.

NINE-POINT PLAN
Noting that one of the four males who tested positive has since died, the MoSP went on to say that through its nine-point plan, it has managed to thwart “any possible threat of an outbreak” at the government-managed facility.

“The Ministry of Social Protection wishes to assure the general public that it continues to be guided by the protocols established by the Ministry of Public Health,” the agency said, “and will continue to take steps necessary for the protection of residents, care personnel, and staff at the Palms Elderly Care Facility.”

Dr. De Haarte said that to date, she has received no report of inmates at the other 20 government-run institutions testing positive for the coronavirus.
The gerontologist said that the inspection team will scrutinise the remaining Homes, all of which are located in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), when they have completed examining the facilities in the capital and its environs.

She is appealing to administrators of any existing elderly homes not in the government’s official records to ensure that their institution is regularised to benefit from existing support packages. She said the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) is backing the 21 State-run Homes every month with support packages to help fight the coronavirus.
Just recently, the CDC donated some 2,000 masks to the elderly institutions in their ongoing quest.

“We are doubling our efforts to visit, demonstrate and provide explanation about the use of personal protective equipment (PPEs), including gloves and masks; how to sanitise surfaces and surrounding environment correctly, and how to treat unclean clothing to prevent their likely contamination spreading in the Home,” Dr. De Haarte said.

The Public Health Ministry has also teamed up with Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the fight against the coronavirus overwhelming the vulnerable residents of these institutions.