Over 3,000 Islanders have already volunteered to support the community during the Covid-19 pandemic, and now the government is seeking fit and healthy Islanders to undergo intensive training to take on health care assistant roles in the field hospital. Their responsibilities may include moving people and equipment around the hospital, feeding and washing patients and offering reassurance to patients who have been admitted to hospital.
A recruitment drive will take place in the next few days looking for around 200 Islanders who will take up support roles within the new facility, after undergoing three weeks of intensive training.
Ordinarily, training for health care assistants would be between six and eight weeks.
Malcolm Ferey, of the Community Taskforce, has been in discussions with Chief Nurse Rose Naylor about having the right fit and healthy people stepping into the roles.
And in a letter sent out to existing volunteers this week, Alan Le Pavoux, of volunteer.je, outlined the need for scores of volunteers to staff the new facility.
He said: ‘I am sure you have seen that Millbrook will be the site of our very own Nightingale Hospital. We will need to staff this.
‘In the UK they have very quickly set up training and support so that sufficient health-care assistants can be on the frontline.
‘This has been achieved by utilising people from many walks of life, including flight attendants, lifeguards and others with basic first-aid and service/hospitality training.’
The Nightingale Hospital has an estimated cost of £14.4 million and it is hoped that some beds in the facility will be available by the beginning of May.
Mr Le Pavoux added: ‘Here St John Ambulance and the Health Department are setting up a training programme to enable suitable individuals to take on these roles safely and effectively.
‘This will enable staff to be released from normal duties to work with Covid-19 patients.
‘Due to the nature of this virus, only fit and healthy individuals, preferably under the age of 30, will be recruited. Please look out for further information.
‘This training will also be available to support those wishing to help in care homes where personal protective equipment is required to care for the elderly.’
He also said in the letter that due to the vast number of volunteers, organisers were ready to ensure that no Islander would go without food during the crisis.
And he reminded people who worked in food production, the health system or in blue-light services not to volunteer, as they were ‘too valuable to risk losing’.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Richard Renouf has said that no decision has been made on what will happen with the new temporary Nightingale Hospital in St Lawrence after the Covid-19 crisis. However, it was revealed that the structure was not owned by Jersey but was on loan.
