By Alisa Lashley
THIRTY-FIVE new Patient-Care Assistants, drawn from all across the country, recently entered the healthcare system after graduating last weekend from a six-month training programme in rendering patient-care assistance (PCA).

The PCA trainees were exposed to theory and clinical training which better prepared them for the work environment. The training programme, which was first held in July 2018, is essentially a collaborative exercise between the Ministries of Human Services and Social Security and Public Health that is usually held at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), but due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and its social distancing restrictions, training this year was held at the more accommodating Critchlow Labour College (CLC) on Woolford Avenue, Thomas Lands.

According to health officials, a PCA’s role is to monitor the status of patients, assist them with eating and taking care of their personal hygiene, as well as transporting them around and maintaining their supplies.

In his address to this year’s batch of graduates, Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, Mr. Shelton Daniels, began by commending them for going the distance.

“Let me say that you have done well over the past months, and much more is being done to improve the work of a Patient Care Assistant at the various homes and centres managed by the ministry,” he said, adding:

“Being successful in this career usually requires someone with excellent interpersonal skills, solid organisational habits and an empathetic nature. In general, it takes a certificate in patient care from a vocational school to get into this field, but, for all of you, this opportunity is a lifelong process to your dream.”
In an interview on Thursday with the Guyana Chronicle, Valedictorian, Sasha Richardson, noted that completing the programme under the current COVID-19 guidelines was no easy task, as it proved to be not only challenging, but demanding as well.

“Like most people the world over,” Richardson said, “I had to adapt to the rules of COVID-19. Before the pandemic arrived in Guyana, I was already taught how and when to perform hand hygiene and the use of personal protective equipment, including the wearing of a mask. Coping with the pandemic during class was somewhat challenging, as we had to maintain social distancing, as opposed to a normal basis… because the classes offered were based on caring for others, basic nursing skills, anatomy, communication, nutritional needs of a patient and conditions associated with the elderly.”

As to what she plans doing career-wise, Richardson said that the programme has made such a lasting impression on her that she’s already begun attending CSEC classes online, in the hope of firstly becoming a registered nurse and much later, a midwife. “With experience comes exposure, and being exposed to the PCA programme,” she said, “has made me grow immensely, as a result of the hard work, studying and sacrifice. I devoted myself so that today, I have not only gained knowledge and skills, but I’m a better individual.”

She’d like to encourage persons interested in applying to do the PCA programme to just go for it. “Since there is no greater feeling than the love you receive for genuinely caring for others,” Sasha said, “I urge you to join, as you will not only be certified to care for patients, but also your family. This foundation paves the way for you to go further in your career and to become career-driven to climb to higher heights within the healthcare field.”

The new batch of PCAs is expected to work closely with medical staff of the Palms Geriatric Home, The Night Shelter, and the Hugo Chavez Rehabilitation and Reintegration Centre.