“Today for you, tomorrow for me”

Dedicated Medical Technicians
Andrea Orelue and Kavin Stewart 

Jamaica Observer column published 27 April 2020

by Jean Lowrie-Chin

We should remember the words of Health Minister Dr Chris Tufton in response to reports of discrimination against persons diagnosed with the Covid-19 virus: “Those who discriminate are assuming that they will not have the virus ... today for you, tomorrow for me … you are discriminating against yourself as none of us are immune! Please cut the hate and let us work together as a community.”

Moreover, we have heard reports of nurses being denied public transportation and hearing hurtful remarks.  Despite the sacrifices and long hours, we are subjecting them to this ignorant behaviour. Nurses Association of Jamaica (NAJ) President Carmen Johnson is well aware of the pressure her members face and has reminded them that they should try to get breaks in the day and to seek counselling if they become too anxious. Our friend Andrea Orelue who is a medical technician, says she and her colleagues are having longer hours at the Government Labs.

We can lessen the challenges for health workers by following the Government guidelines regarding frequent handwashing, not touching our faces, social distancing and the wearing of masks.  If these workers are under such pressure now, how will they manage if the numbers keep increasing? We were surprised to see so few persons wearing masks when we drove through Kingston last week. Remember, if you do not have a mask, you can fold a scarf or a large handkerchief, ensuring that it covers your nose, mouth and chin.

We must work at “flattening the curve” if we do not want to become a sad statistic. Last year this time, we would have been horrified if we heard of a plane crash with deaths in two figures. Now we are punch-drunk as the daily global figures climb; at the time of writing this column Covid-19 has claimed the lives of 196,383 persons of the 2,813,518 cases worldwide.