On Friday February 4th, the Chairman of the COVID 19 Management Centre Mr. Cletus Springer and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar George accepted a major consignment of personal protective equipment (PPE) from They Often Cry Outreach (TOCO) Foundation. On hand to present the PPE were TOCO co-founders Chairman Taj Weekes and his wife Angela Weekes.
The TOCO consignment of PPE comprised five palettes and three commercial bins, containing 10,000 masks, 20,000 shields, 36,000 pairs of gloves, gowns and a variety of hazmat goggles.
Springer commented on TOCO Foundation’s commitment to the people of Saint Lucia “evidenced by the consistency of TOCO’s social support to a range of communities and causes, and the relevance of their outreach to real needs on the ground.”
Springer further noted that while donations of such a specific nature result from a request for assistance, in this instance, the offer of the supplies was initiated by the TOCO Foundation to the COVID Management Centre.
“This is further evidence of how in tune to the needs in the country the foundation is, more so that Saint Lucia is but one of the various countries to which the foundation is committed. “We very much appreciated this best practice approach which acknowledges that the local Health Authorities would be best placed to allocate the supplies where they are more urgently needed,” Springer said.
The full contingent attending the hand over at the warehouse of West Indies Shipping Company also included the Deputy Director of the Bordelais Correctional Facility (BCF), Leonard Terrance and a small team representing the Respiratory Hospital. Much of the PPE have been earmarked for these agencies. Towards the end of 2021, the BCF, with a staff compliment of 235 and 494 inmates experienced an outbreak of the virus. The Ministry of Health has been working with the BCF to ensure full vaccination coverage to mitigate the possibility of a crisis.
Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Belmar-George said that the value of an adequate and accessible stock of PPE for frontline workers cannot be overstated “because of their level of vulnerability to infection being in close and constant contact with the virus. We are well aware of pressures that managing the pandemic has had on health care workers. We must protect them at all costs, both for themselves and their families, as well as for our sick,” the CMO noted.
Taj Weekes reiterated the Foundation’s commitment to the country’s social upliftment and to using the partnership approach for greater impact. “For us it is a privilege to serve. We feel more blessed than those who are on the receiving end of our efforts,” he said.
Despite challenges caused by the worldwide COVID-19 Pandemic, TOCO Foundation has been able to dispatch a shipment of computers and tablets for distribution through the Ministry of Education to primary schools. Additionally, in 2020, and in 2021, the Foundation delivered approximately 15,000 pounds of food supplies for distribution islandwide through NEMO, the Rotary Club and various other community basedorganisations.