The Tuschen Health Centre and the church provide meaningful services to the community

By Michel Outridge

THE Tuschen Health Centre is situated in almost the middle of the village in Phase One, Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo and it is accessible to residents five days per week and they provide a healthcare service that is free of cost with the resources at hand.

The nurse in charge, Jannella Henry, told the Pepperpot Magazine that they are opened from 08:00hrs to 16:00hrs from Mondays to Fridays and they have a staff of 11.

The facility is neat and clean and all COVID-19 protocols are in place for the safety of staffers and patients where handwashing, the wearing of a face mask and social distancing are all necessary to reduce the spread of the virus.

The Tuschen Health Centre has a clinic attendant, two nursing assistants, two community health workers, four staffers in the dental department including a dentist, two dental technicians and one dental assistant, a doctor and a midwife.

Nurse Henry reported that they have a good relationship with the community and the patients are very cooperative causing them to get along well.

The facility has a waiting area with benches, a dispensary, a dressing room, a dining room, a records section, a room for testing and counselling of PMPCT which takes places every Thursday and the antenatal/vaccine/examination room.

Tuschen Health Centre serves a large catchment area which includes the entire Tuschen plus Phase Two Zeelugt, where there is a shortcut that is being utilised by villagers to get to the health centre for medical care.

The biggest clinic is the chronic disease/hypertensive clinic which attracts a large gathering but daily more than 20 patients would pass through the facility for

varying health conditions.

Nurse Henry said they are trying to provide proper health care for the community but at present, there is a shortage of drugs but they are making use of what they have.

The staffers of this government-run facility are very friendly and do not waste time in assisting patients, some of whom need urgent medical care and attention.

The village church
Prophet Troy Charles is the head of Touching Your Healing Miracle Centre which is located in Phase One, Tuschen and is under construction.

Charles is originally from One Mile, Wismar, Linden but settled in Tuschen, five years ago to fulfil his calling as a pastor to serve the people and provide a place for worship.

He reported that he is trying to extend the building to house the church and it will also serve as a place for weddings, religious events, counselling and generally, a place where people can visit to talk to God.

“Anyone can come here, it is a safe space and once a month we would try to distribute hampers to villagers and members through a partnership with Food For The Poor Guyana and other organisations to ensure the people have something to put on their tables at home,” he said.

Charles stated that he is part of a family business in One Mile, Wismar, Linden and the church is his passion and does not receive any earnings from it and does it because he desires to serve the people of the community.

“This church is not a money-making venture for me and I will never see it as that, in fact, I work with my family and that brings in an income to my home,” he said.

Charles reported that it is very fulfilling to meet the needs of the people spiritually and he is there to transform the lives of those in need of that kind of spiritual healing through the church.

“This is not a fly by night operation to collect money from members and it will never be but it is a place where people can come to talk to me at any time and serve God,” he said.

The father of four added that he has a membership of 75 and they do not gather at one time on Sundays, and other days in the week for worship service to comply with the COVID-19 guidelines.

Charles disclosed that he made an application for a plot of land to house the church, five years ago but to date, he wasn’t successful in securing it, as such, he had to build the church as an extension in the front of his house.

He has, however, identified another vacant plot within the community.