While the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced out some stage of sharing and caring for one another, some officers say they’re involved that typically, there has been an total lack of community spirit and the next stage of household dysfunction throughout Barbados.
Social Analyst Elbert Ellis and medical practitioner Dr Lynda Williams made the remark on Tuesday night time, whereas contributing to a panel dialogue organised by the Barbados Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (BARAIFA) on the subject The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Barbados.
“There has been at least a loss of community in the traditional sense, but [as with] COVID-19 you tend to see that in times of difficulty when a country is impacted we tend to see that spirit coming to the fore more and more,” mentioned Ellis.
“But there must be a sustained effort because as societies we become a bit more affluent and persons progress more to what we call the middle classes we may move out of the traditional village-type setting [and] we tend to develop a different sense of community. But the point is taken that community in its broader sense, we need to get back there and not only in times of disaster or times of impact,” he mentioned.
He urged residents to be extra conscious of the wants of others round them much more in order the economic system is turning into a bit harder and society is on “the brink of stress”.
“We want to have the ability to present ethical assist not solely inside the household setting, however the prolonged household preparations, the community preparations and even within the office . . ., mentioned Ellis. He urged Barbadians to achieve out to non-nationals who have been residing right here with no speedy household assist.
Williams, who’s the President of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP), additionally acknowledged there has been “some loss of community”, although indicating that “the good thing about COVID is that we have seen some of that come back”.
However, Williams mentioned “As a community moving together, supporting each other, there has been, to my mind, a loss of community in Barbados and that impacts our ability to be resilient whether it is a healthcare situation or whether it is a hurricane or some other type of impact. So we really have to look at how we build back communities and how we help each other survive these difficult times.”
She mentioned along with the bodily well being, the pandemic has had a serious impression on folks’s psychological well being and resulted in some change in behaviour amongst some relations.
“We have to look at families. One of the things COVID revealed is a lot of family dysfunction in Barbados. We will need more social workers and more people to work at strengthening families and also helping people to deal with their own personal resilience,” she mentioned.
She additionally pointed to the necessity for nations to proceed to cooperate and share with one another, whereas pointing to the sharing of vaccines and data through the peak of the pandemic as one good instance of such gesture.
“We also need to encourage our local multi-sectoral response. By that I mean government sectors need to talk to each other. So it is not just healthcare, but we also have to look at agriculture, how are we going to feed ourselves, how are we going to produce those healthy foods, how are we going to work with the transport and works to give people more outdoor spaces for exercise?” she mentioned. (MM)
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