Forde: Home Help Programme still going

Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Cynthia Forde, said that the Home Help Programme of the National Assistance Board (NAB) has not been closed and remains operational.

Earlier yesterday, National Union of Public Workers’ (NUPW) Acting General Secretary, Delcia Burke, said the staff as well as Barbados was told one thing, but it appears that something different is happening and they wanted a clear direction or communication as to the way forward.

In a release published a few hours after Burke’s statement, Forde clarified the matter and said that her ministry was acting on the advice of the public health officials within the Ministry of Health and Wellness, who have not recommended the programme’s closure. She stated that the Home Help Programme which provides daily support to senior citizens and other vulnerable persons in Barbados has not been closed but remains operational.

The released went on to explain that on the advice of the Acting Chief Medical Officer, the Ministry closed the administrative office of the NAB at Country Road after five staff members stationed there tested positive for COVID-19 this month.

Burke spoke to the media yesterday morning at the Wildey Depot of the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) after a show of appreciation for the essential workers, where she voiced her concerns.
She said that the workers are complaining that they are not hearing anything from the management of NAB, nor the ministry, the office is shut and the staff is quarantined, so there is a lot of confusion as to what exactly is happening. They also feel that they are being discriminated against as monthly staff have been taken to a hotel …and they are being quarantine there. However, those home helpers are being asked to go out to work and some have said they went to work on Monday and are being scorned by the public.

Burke said, “We were told that all of the workers, once they were tested, if they were positive they would go into isolation; if they were negative, they would be quarantine.”

The release issued by Forde also said that testing of all NAB employees from all locations has commenced, and one home help worker has tested positive and her source of contact was traced to an already identified case at the head office.

So far 230 NAB employees have tested negative for the viral illness out of the 236 completed test. There are approximately 170 home helpers out of the 255 NAB staff members.