By Michel Outridge

REGISTERED Nurse Alicia Harper is attached to the Windsor Forest Health Centre.
Although she is fairly new there,s she has been in the nursing profession for eight years.

The Windsor Forest Health Centre has three staffers which include a registered nurse, a midwife and a community health worker.

A visiting doctor is there every Wednesday and Thursday when they have the largest clinic, that is, for chronic diseases.

“I have been here for the past four months and I find it delightful to work in a health centre, which is located right on the Public Road, so it is easily accessible and I feel safe here,” she said.

Nurse Harper hails from La Parfaite Harmonie and would make the daily commute to and from work.

Even though there is not a pharmacist at the health centre, Nurse Harper reported that they do dispense drugs but not antibiotics and only prescriptions drugs to members of the chronic disease clinic.

Nurse Harper, who is multi-talented, told the Pepperpot Magazine that she always wanted to serve her community and nursing is the perfect job to interact and help sick people.

The Windsor Forest Health Centre serves several communities, including Harlem and others.

The services offered are ante-natal, outpatient, family planning, child health clinic and chronic diseases clinic.

The Windsor Forest Health Centre is opened five days per week from 08:00hrs to 16:30hrs.

The hairdresser and make-up artist
Apart from those who are employed in the health sector, there are also residents in the beauty sector within Windsor Forest who are also making moves.
Aaliyah Sieunarine is a hairdresser and make-up artist who is a mother of one and resides with her elderly grandmother, her son and a younger sibling.

Sieunarine, who is 23 years old, returned to Windsor Forest from the Essequibo Coast after her husband died and she is hoping to have her own salon one day.

She has been a make-up artist and hairdresser for about a year and has experience working in a salon.

Sieunarine started that profession when her grandfather passed away, because she had to work and so she enrolled in a professional course.

After completing the course, she was successful and eventually got the hang of it and made it a career.

She sought employment in a salon as a hairdresser and as time progressed, she developed her skills as a make-up artist.

Sieunarine has been home since January this year due to COVID-19 and is hopeful that the virus will pass, so she can return to work fully.,

At home, she would get calls for work but is scared to be around people because of the virus.

“In this profession you can’t just take one class and tell yourself you know everything, because you can’t. You have to work along with others in a salon to gain experience and enhance your skills,” she said.

The Windsor Forest resident believes that one can easily become better in a professional environment, that is, a salon, because opening a salon is a big investment and it takes time, money and planning to make possible.

She is, however, optimistic that one day her dream of having her own salon will materialise.

“I will return to work when I am ready, but my customers are anxious and simply cannot wait,” she said.