Saint Lucia has restructured its community health services in response to a surge in COVID-19 infections, with Principal Nursing Officer – Julietta Frederick-Cassius, announcing on Friday that the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs will temporarily close four Community Wellness Centres.
Frederick-Cassius identified the affected centres as being at La Guerre, Babonneau; Ti Rocher, Castries; Delcer, Soufriere and Fond St Jacques, Soufriere.
“Clients of these Wellness Centers are asked to access care at another wellness centre within their district. During the closure of these Wellness Centres the Health Aides will continue to provide screening services within the communities,” she explained.
In addition, the Health Ministry official disclosed that the Ministry has taken the decision to scale-down the services offered at select Wellness Centres to allow for the reassignment of staff to facilities and sites with higher service demand including vaccination sites and respiratory clinics.
She explained that despite this redeployment, core services will still be provided at these down-scaled wellness centres which include the continuation of Diabetes, Hypertension and other chronic care services, as well as Maternal and Child Health services.
The clinic days for these Wellness Centres are as follows:
– Canaries Wellness Centre – Tuesdays and Wednesdays
– Vanard Wellness Centre – Mondays and Tuesdays
– Etangs Wellness Centre – Tuesdays and Wednesdays
– Saltibus Wellness Centre – Tuesdays
– Grace Wellness Centre – Wednesdays
– Ti Rocher Micoud Wellness Centre – Mondays and Thursdays
– Mongouge Wellness Centre – Tuesdays and Wednesdays
All scheduled Doctor Clinics shall remain as per schedule.
“This scale-down will be for a period of two weeks, in the first instance commencing Monday September 20, 2021 and at the end of the period an assessment will be done to determine the need for its continuity,” Frederick-Cassius disclosed.
The health official’s full statement appears below:
Headline photo: Internet stock image
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