How Mashabo’s health system has developed

LOOKING at the country’s healthcare system today, it may not be easy to see just how far Guyana has come, but what about on a smaller scale? This week, the Pepperpot Magazine ventured to the riverain village of Mashabo, where healthcare is still developing with the village’s people at its helm.

Across a lake that stretches more than ten miles lies the community of Mashabo. The last decade has seen the village undergo several changes in many areas, with transportation, education, and agriculture continuing to innovate and diversify. One of the village’s biggest hurdles, however, has been healthcare.

For a community that was once only accessible via a few speedboats, health was a challenge. However, the men and women of Mashabo have not let this stop them. With hopes of modernising the sector, the people of Mashabo continue to strive. Resident healthcare worker, Faye Hendricks, shares how healthcare in the community has developed and what the people of the village are doing to give back.

Mashabo is most often praised for its tranquillity, but this peace and quiet come at a cost. Faye Hendricks, raised in the community of Mashabo, has seen the community’s healthcare system go from lacking basic drugs to being capable of having its own outreaches and impactful initiatives. Recounting the early challenges in healthcare, Faye stated, “Years ago, under the past healthcare worker, getting things like drugs in the community was very hard. We did not have transportation like we do today, so it was difficult getting things in and out of the village.”

Healthcare is not the only thing that has changed over the years; the way of life has also seen a major shift over the decades. Faye describes growing up in Mashabo as good, simplistic, but enjoyable. Still housing a vibrant agricultural presence, for most of the village’s history, farming was the obvious choice for work, with young women undertaking the occasional teaching and nursing opportunities, both of which required them to leave home.

Passionate about giving back to her community, Faye initially pursued a career in teaching. As she shared, “At first, I was very eager to become a teacher. I wanted a job, and I wanted to give back to my community.” Her efforts at becoming a teacher were unfulfilled as she grappled with many of the challenges the community faced at the time. Faye’s aspirations of giving back to her community were not entirely lost, however, as she saw her opportunity several years later in healthcare.

As the community’s healthcare worker came closer to retirement, the community was in search of someone to take her place. Seeking to take the opportunity, Faye furthered her education to be qualified for the job. A few years later, she stood at the forefront of health in the community, bridging the gap between the coast and the lakeside village. As she stated, “I said, you know what? I want to do something. I will just, you know, step over to the healthcare system. And this is when I got through.”

Since then, the village has expanded the way it cares for its people. Presently, Mashabo’s health centre is more equipped than ever, with a few more staff and better access to hospitals on the coast, with Suddie being the closest and first choice. As Faye shared, “We find it easier for us now… Because before, for the vaccines, for example, people used to have to go to the coast at a hospital. But now we do it ourselves, here in the community. The retired healthcare worker, she had a really tough time.”

Now more capable than ever, Mashabo is able to take better care of its people. As emphasised by Faye, Mashabo now hosts its own initiatives, with the most recent being the vaccination against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). As the rest of the country wages wars on various health challenges, Mashabo is no different. As Faye shared, “Right now, what we do now, we’re doing HPV vaccine, and we’re educating the parents and the children about HPV vaccine.” She further added, “We consult with the women, and the girls, and the boys, about actually preventing them from getting those things, like the wart. So, we just go to the heart and clean up, you know, the wart.”

The community is proud of the progress they have made, with the biggest achievement being able to increase accessibility to better healthcare. Citing the impact of governmental support, Faye stated, “I would like to thank the government for continuing to support us. And we’ll do the same thing for them.” She further added, “I can see a lot of improvement because we normally book for drugs… We book it, like, we book, like, two-month drugs. We’re having that on a two-month basis.”