Our Frontline Worker of the Week is… Midwife/Medex, Leauta Hubbard

Aug 08, 2021 News

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“I would like to encourage everybody to take their vaccine, lets beat COVID-19 and get back to a normal life, practice social distancing, wear face mask and practice hand washing. Old people have a saying, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

By Romario Blair

Kaieteur News – “This pandemic taught me that friends and family are important, and we need each other so that we can have a decrease in mental health cases.” Those words were uttered by Leauta Hubbard, a midwife/medex, who has been delivering health care in the local public sector for the past decade.

The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt taught us many lessons and has given us a valid reason to reflect on the things that truly matters. While some of us have lost loved ones to the disease, there are those who were snatched from the jaws of death thanks to the dedicated frontline workers in the health care system, much like Hubbard.
During a recent interview, she spoke glowingly of honing her current role as supervisor for the Maternal and Child Health Department in Region Two. This appointment came in 2020, just before the spread of COVID-19 to the Region. Apart from administering health care, Hubbard is also tasked with the responsibility of supervising all of the Region’s health centres. But when it was confirmed that the virus had reached Region Two, her tasks became more challenging.
In explaining the challenges, she said, “since COVID, my work has become a challenge. The first challenge I’ve had was during the first phase of COVID-19. Like most of my colleagues, I had little knowledge to work with. So, myself and two others were the first trained to do COVID-19 testing…I was a bit scared because I didn’t know what to expect, I was scared for my family.”
The second challenge, she said, was the fact that the increased demand at work, made it difficult to have any quality family time. “I have less time for my family, I leave home early and I head home very late… and I even find myself working weekends and holidays,” she related.

As time progressed, she said the fear of COVID-19 subtly dwindled. “I was a bit comfortable because of the information being disseminated by the Ministry of Health. Apart from that, I was doing testing for the past six months, to the point I got use to it. And I really enjoyed working with people, I always had the support of my colleagues, the supervisor and the Regional Health Officer,” she shared.
Adopting to Change
Hubbard is a proud mother of three wonderful children – Jaheim, Jahzara and Madison, whose ages are 16, six and two years respectively. As a mother who is fond of her children’s companionship, she revealed that adjusting to new routines were a bit challenging.
When asked to describe her initial reaction in the field, she said, “I was scared, yet very skeptical because when I go out testing, I took all necessary precautions.” She added, “My two-year-old is always under me, so when I started working out in the fields we had special house rules, nobody must be at my entrance point until I take my bath and everything… It was a challenge to them at first, because knowing mom is home everybody wants to be at the door… but I think by now they’re used to it.”
Early childhood
Hubbard grew up in the community of Queenstown on the Essequibo Coast and is the fourth of seven children born to Codwell Hubbard and his sweetheart, Wyoni Hu.
She graduated from the Queenstown Primary School and was later enrolled at the Abrams Zuil Secondary School – one of the best secondary schools on the Essequibo Coast. After graduating high school, she had her eyes set on becoming a pilot but fate had different plans.
“I never wanted to be a nurse, never mind I had relatives pulling me in that direction. But I guess after finishing school and moving to Georgetown, I was working in dentistry and I got a liking for helping people,” she noted. “I wanted the type of work where I would be working from 8 to 4 and the medex suited that category so I took that one,” she added.
Hubbard’s medical career on the Essequibo Coast began in 2011, at the Devonshire Castle Health Centre. “So, a Registered Midwife/Medic is generally in charge of a health center, in terms of the managerial aspect… overlooking the staffing, ensuring there’s a smooth running… it also includes seeing patients to the out patients.”
Tackling COVID-19
During the initial stages of COVID-19 in Region Two, quite a number of Amerindian communities were affected and even became hotspots. This presented a problem for Hubbard and her team, especially since her responsibility was to overlook all health centres in the Region.
As she explained how this issue was tackled, she said, “What we’ve created is a group, going to the different locations to do awareness, so we could spread more information to the people, so they learn about this virus.”
A major challenge in combating COVID-19, Hubbard said, is the fact that there are still persons who believe COVID-19 is non-existent. This reckless belief, she said, is one of the reasons behind the spike in cases. “Adherence and belief…people are not adhering to the COVID-19 measures and then there’s another category of people who don’t believe COVID-19 exists.”
Just a year ago, persons were desperately hoping for a cure, or a treatment against COVID-19. According to Hubbard, during the initial stages of the vaccination drive, persons were voluntarily taking the vaccines. The situation today, she added, is not the same. “Currently we are on the hesitation stage, persons are looking at social media and are being deceived. We have persons coming, but not as many as we are supposed to have.”
She added, “I would like to encourage everybody to take their vaccine, lets beat COVID-19 and get back to a normal life, practice social distancing, wear face mask and practice hand washing. Old people have a saying, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
When asked to describe the best aspect of delivering health care, she replied, “I love what I do; it gives me the opportunity to reach out to people. I enjoy helping people, being a health care provider, helping would definitely be one of my best aspects…because being empathic and compassionate are two quality of a great health care provider and also knowing that you can help save a life is indeed a privilege,” our featured Frontline Worker asserted.

 

 

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