WITH just over 2,600 Ministry of Health staffers across the island so far reporting property damage from Hurricane Melissa — 217 of whom are now homeless — portfolio minister Dr Christopher Tufton has announced the launch of a welfare initiative to support their recovery.

Speaking at a post-Hurricane Melissa media briefing on Thursday, Tufton said while health workers have been resilient during, and after the hurricane, which viciously tunnelled through sections of Jamaica on October 28, they have also been victims.

“The ministry is giving the matter of staff welfare — including attention to our team’s mental health — a major priority area as part of our restoration and recovery. We have begun a staff welfare initiative to assess the full impact of the hurricane on team members in the sector and to support their recovery.

“The initiative entails a number of support domains namely, psychosocial — which will see an expansion of mental health awareness, the development of coping skills and the deployment of trauma-informed care; [and] secondly financial — where the ministry proposes to engage financial institutions, creating a pathway for affected staff members to financial resources to support recovery,” Tufton told the media briefing.

He noted that many health-care workers “have lost their personal possessions, their roofs, their cars, and other items”, and pointed out that while the support from the health ministry might not be in the form of cheques, the entity will be assisting at several levels.

“The honourable prime minister has announced several measures; the National Housing Trust (NHT), for example. We have already had a meeting with the NHT to outline the profile of the staff who have been impacted and have gotten sufficient information from them to determine who may or may not qualify, but there are other agencies that we intend to have dialogue with as far as trying to assist staff to mount a response to the devastation of the hurricane on their personal or physical space,” Tufton added.

He said, through a ministry developed database dubbed the ‘Healthcare Workers Support Form’ and deployed on November 6, preliminary information from the Human Resource Department across the ministry, its departments, and agencies, 2,619 entries have been made.

According to Tufton, that number is made up of 2,033 females and 586 males with the majority of people affected ranging from 26 to 33 years of age.

He pointed out that data for 518 health workers was not collected as communication remains a challenge across some areas in the island.

Tufton told the media briefing that another approach is being applied to secure the details of the 518 health workers unaccounted for.

As expected, the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA) — which covers the hard-hit parishes of Hanover, St James, Trelawny, and Westmoreland — accounts for the majority of health workers (1,512) impacted by the hurricane.

The WRHA is followed by the Southern Regional Health Authority, 579, and the North East Regional Health Authority, 328, while the South East Regional Health Authority — which covers the least affected parishes of St Catherine, St Thomas, Kingston and St Andrew — had 171 people impacted directly by Melissa.

Tufton said the ministry’s corporate office and the National Council on Drug Abuse saw the least number of staff impacted, 15 and 14 respectively.

“So the affected staff spanned 54 facilities. Those with the highest count of affected staff are Cornwall Regional Hospital, St Elizabeth Parish Health Department, Sav-la-Mar Hospital, St James Parish Health Department, Noel Holmes Hospital, and Black River Hospital. We are therefore seeking, on a separate stream, to manage the information that comes in and to see how we can give appropriate attention to our healthcare workers and this ranges from the consultant to the porter, right across the board,” said Tufton.

“This is important for us because our staff make everything happen and Jamaica depends on them, patients depend on them, and so we are going to do what is necessary to ensure that they get appropriate attention. We have a plan; we are working that plan,” added Tufton.

In the meantime, Pauline Spencer-Smith, acting director at the National Council on Drug Abuse, which will be driving the health ministry’s staff welfare project, told the media briefing that it is clear that not all health workers are back to normal.

“Communication systems remain poor, most communities that staff belong to are without light and water, workplaces in many cases have unreliable support of power but 80 per cent of staff members are on the job,” said Spencer-Smith.

She said overall for all regions, there are 741 health workers with minor damage, 1,131 with moderate damage, 530 with major damage, and the 217 who are now homeless.

According to Spencer-Smith, in detailing their needs, health workers indicated that they require assistance with repairs to windows, doors, and roofs. They also need clothing and furniture, and replacement of damaged equipment, in addition to food and care packages, disability-related assistance, and assistance with medication.