It is one of those facilities you visit and feel welcomed and comfortable because the staffers are professionals, who certainly enjoy their jobs and provide a high quality of service to the people and community at Ithaca Health Centre.

This place is the Ithaca Village, the community next door to Balchyock Village, which serves the entire Blairmont, Ithaca and Shieldstown villages.

The facility is managed by Community Health Worker Leslyn Morris, a mannerly, skilled professional, who has her way with people due to her friendly demeanour.

She is easy to talk to and does her job with relative ease because she serves the people and has very good relations with the community.

The Ithaca Health Centre is a very clean and tidy place with all COVID-19 protocols such as hand washing, social distancing, and wearing face masks.

The facility has a visiting doctor, Hagar Mohammed, who comes on Mondays and Wednesdays; one Community Health Worker; one Patient Care Assistant; one Pharmacist, who visits when the doctor is there; one Pharmacy Assistant; one visiting midwife; and one Health Care Attendant.

This place is located just off the main road in Ithaca Village, which is the last on that corridor and the people make use of the services provided.

Morris told the Pepperpot Magazine that they are a primary health care facility and provide ante-natal, post-natal, home visits, family planning, child health clinic, chronic diseases clinic, vaccination and general out-patient services such as dressings.

The health centre is opened on Mondays to Fridays from 08:00hrs to 16:30hrs.

Morris related that they do not try away visitors except for the more severe cases that they cannot handle they would refer to Fort Wellington Hospital and New Amsterdam Hospital.

Ithaca Health Centre is spacious and has adequate seating accommodation both inside and outside the building and there is a sink to wash hands upon entry and the wearing of a face mask sign is on the gate.

About 10 to 15 patients would pass through the facility on weekdays and they have the biggest crowd on Mondays and Wednesdays when there is the chronic diseases clinic and the doctor is present.

On Tuesdays, Morris said they have ante-natal clinic and Wednesdays, there is the child health clinic and on Fridays, they have home visits to shut-ins, children, who missed their vaccines, among others in the community.

On that day which was a Tuesday the visiting midwife, Lavern Baxter said she came to work early and the mothers and children were there early too so she began working to shorten their waiting time since they had children in tow.

She stated that they have excellent work ethic at the facility and do not have patients waiting for long periods.

“Our Nursing Assistant is in training to upgrade to a Midwife and she will be back after completing the course so they will have an in-house midwife,” Morris said.

Morris added that they have managed to gain the people’s trust and have very good relations with them and collectively, they work together to reduce the spread of diseases.

Like all the staffers of this facility, she is a caring healthcare professional trained and knows how to talk and treat people.

It was also evident from the way they go about their jobs they enjoy every bit of it and their surroundings are very clean.

Morris and her team are doing a good job even through the pandemic they are true to their calling and are working even harder to reduce the spread of COVID-19.