Community Health Aides (CHAs) in Manchester were given a massive boost in their fight against the COVID 19 pandemic; as they received 140 Home Visiting Bags on Friday November 13 from the Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA). The Home Visiting Bags arrived at the SRHA earlier in November and on Friday; staff from the Manchester Health Department met to pack the bags with the necessary equipment for distribution to the CHAs.
Each bag was furnished with a Digital Thermometer, Stethoscope, Sphygmomanometer, Measuring Tape, Adhesive Tapes, Forceps, Hand Sanitizer, Kidney Dish, Goggles, Disposable Gloves and Biohazard bags. CHAs in the Parishes of Clarendon and Saint Elizabeth will receive their bags later this month.

Also captured are: (left to right): Director of Public Procurement at the SRHA, Stacy-Ann Edwards , Director of Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations at the SRHA, Nicolette Thomas Edwards, CHA Shanique Finnikin, acting Regional Nursing Supervisor Maxine Isaacs, acting Senior Public Health Nurse Manchester North, Llelia Miler-Beecher, and CHA Marshalee Legore.
CHAs in Manchester will not be the only ones to receive a boost from the SRHA, as the organization plans to hand over another 460 bags to CHAs from the parishes of St. Elizabeth and Clarendon on Wednesday. The Home Visiting Bags and equipment to be placed inside cost $17.3 million Jamaican dollars.
The SRHA recruited and trained 219 CHAs in the most recent cohort, this in response to COVID-19. Participants who successfully completed the 12 week training programme were dispatched across the various health facilities in the region.