The Woodley Park Health Centre

By Michel Outridge

THE Woodley Park Health Centre, West Coast Berbice, is a people-friendly facility whose staff know how to relate to patients and provide quality healthcare to those who need it the most.

The facility has two visiting doctors, but when they are not present, midwife Banbhanmattie Jairaj is in charge of the Family Planning and Maternal and Child Health Section of the facility.

She has been there from 2016 to present, but joined the midwifery programme in 2010 and graduated in 2012.

Jairaj was appointed a midwife in 2012 and served at Dundee Health Centre, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara for four years before she was transferred to Woodley Park.

“I was motivated during my hospitalisation at New Amsterdam Hospital after I was a patient there following a motor vehicle accident in 2007, because the quality of care given to me was commendable and I knew I wanted to become a nurse to serve people,” she said.

Jairaj is very passionate about nursing and served at health centres at # 7, 8, 12 and at Bath/Woodley Park.

“I treat people how I would want to be treated as well as my family and relatives and that is the way a nurse is supposed to be,’ she said.

The Woodley Park Health Centre has three Community Health Workers, one office assistant, one registered nurse, one pharmacy assistant, one health centre attendant, a midwife and a visiting pharmacist on Wednesdays only.

There are no in-house doctors, but two doctors would visit on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and serious cases are referred to the Fort Wellington Hospital.

The health care facility provides free services of family planning, child and maternal health, antenatal, postnatal, adolescent health clinic, chronic diseases, dressings, and in and outpatient care.

Midwife Jairaj told the Pepperpot Magazine that currently, they are seeing an overflow of patients because the Experiment Health Centre, a large facility, was converted into the COVID-19 hospital. As such, a lot of people who used to visit there are going to Woodley Park Health Centre for treatment.

The Woodley Park Health Centre is a small place that has a vaccination/exam room, a small space for child health, a dressing room/lunchroom and the children-friendly corner was converted into the doctor’s room/pharmacy and for the COVID-19 Vaccination team.

The health centre is opened only on weekdays from 08:00 to 16:30hrs on Mondays to Thursdays and closes at 15:30hrs on Fridays.

Midwife Jairaj reported that 2,847 patients pass through the facility monthly, but on any given day especially on chronic disease clinic days they would see about 50 patients.

The Woodley Park Health Centre started the COVID-19 vaccination on March 31 and the response has been overwhelming, so far.

As for the Team Leader of the COVID-19 Vaccination Team, Denise Daniels, a mild-mannered retired midwife, one of six, who were trained to administer the COVID-19 vaccine is at Woodley Park Health Centre.

“Since we started the response has been overwhelming some days because of the influx of people coming to be vaccinated and that is good, so per day we see about 25 to 30 persons alone for vaccination,” she said.

Daniels stated that last week when they started they had more than 100 persons, who were vaccinated and as the news is spreading more people are showing up for their vaccine.

When the Pepperpot Magazine was at this facility there was a lot of people waiting their turn to be vaccinated and those who received theirs reported that they had no immediate side effects and was happy to be vaccinated.