FOR Marvin Chu, becoming a Medex was necessary to fulfil his personal goal of a career in healthcare.

He is the first-ever Medex for his village of Wauna, Region One (Barima-Waini), who is excited about fulfilling his role as a community leader and serving the people in the preservation of lives and promoting good health through medical intervention.

Chu is very excited to start his role as a Medex and has vowed to perform fully once he is placed in a village after completing his six-week preceptorship at Mabaruma Regional Hospital.

Chu will celebrate his 48th birth anniversary in October this year and is looking forward to that milestone, as he enters a more mature age.

The new Medex told the Pepperpot Magazine that he came to Georgetown to attend secondary school at North Georgetown Secondary School, but had to drop out due to unforeseen circumstances.

Chu explained that he had to enter the workforce at the age of 17 and held multiple jobs. During his years working in the private sector, he developed a deep yearning for helping others and believed that a job in the healthcare sector was most suited for him.

He added that he had qualified to become a malaria microscopist and had the opportunity to travel around the country, but he felt something was missing.

Chu then decided to become a Community Health Worker (CHW) to focus on administering medical interventions to others. In that capacity, he loved meeting people and assisting them to feel better.

Still, he felt there was a void he wanted to fill, an emptiness within him since he had wanted to become a Medic in the army, but his mother did not want him to.

However, he was inspired by his classmates, who enlightened him about the Ministry of Health Medex Programme through the University of Guyana, and he applied, but was rejected since he did not meet the requirements of passing five subjects in the Common Entrance Examination (CXC).

That was in 2018, but he was not fazed by the incident, and that made him even more determined to become qualified.

Chu took lessons, studied hard, and dedicated himself to sitting the exam. He wrote CXC and passed with five subjects. He was elated and applied for the Medex Programme in 2021, and was accepted.

The Medex stated that he knew he couldn’t give up because it was what he wanted to do as in a career and defied the odds against him.

He stayed at the West Demerara Regional Hospital Dormitory for the duration of the course, which was four years. Whenever he had some time off, he would visit his family, consisting of his wife and three children, in his home village of Wauna.

Chu pointed out that it was very challenging, but the experience was overall good. As a family man, it dawned on him that in life, nothing came easily, so he had to make sacrifices to become successful and achieve his goals.

He stated that there is a Health Post in Wauna Village, but it is managed by a Medex and wherever he is placed to function as the Medex he will do his job as expected.

Chu noted that ideally, he wanted to work in his village, close to his family, including two adult sons, an 11-year-old, and his wife, who is gainfully employed. However, he knows the nature of the job requires travel and placement in other areas.

He reported that he comes from a family of professionals, with two brothers and two sisters, and that he has a sibling who is a dentist.

Chu added that Wauna Village is approximately eight to 10 miles from Mabaruma by road and is also accessible via waterway, a scenic place that is quiet, much like any countryside.

He explained that Wauna means “White Bird,” derived from the Arawak tribe, and it was a farming settlement established by the government in the 1970s to promote agriculture, where peanuts were mostly cultivated.

The Medex added that Wauna Village is close to the Guyana-Venezuela border and is considered a safe place, where he would leave his doors open and return to find everything intact, unlike in some areas.

The population is multi-ethnic, comprising approximately 730 to 740 locals, with farming as their main source of income.