Residents of Uncle Eddie’s Home receive fire safety training
By Alleya Hamilton
DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Residents at Uncle Eddie’s home are now equipped with fire safety skills to safeguard themselves in the event of an unexpected fire at the nursing home.
This is as a result of the extensive Fire Prevention Training coordinated by the Ministry of Social Protection in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health and other agencies, to sensitise senior citizens on fire safety. This training is one of the many activities under the Elderly Care initiative that is designed to improve the welfare of senior citizens in Guyana.
A comprehensive session on fire safety techniques was conducted at the home today by Officer, Troydell Williamson of the Guyana Fire Protection Agency. The seniors and their caretakers benefitted from engaging demonstrations on safe evacuations and how to properly extinguish a fire.
Deputy Director of Social Services at the Ministry of Social Protection, Abike Benjamin-Samuel said the activity is in keeping with the minimum standards for elderly care facilities.
“The Ministry of Social Protection believes that fire safety is very important for our elderly population. So, we intend to equip the staff and the elderly in Guyana with basic firefighting strategies. This training will be extended to all senior citizens’ homes across the length and breadth of Guyana,” she assured.
This Fire Safety Training is the first of its kind at Uncle Eddie’s Home. Administrator, Bonita Moore noted that “this was a training which I was longing for, and I am glad that today we had the experience of having it. I know they learnt something because I asked them some questions after and they explained some of the techniques they learned from the training.”
Similar training was conducted at the Millicent Greaves Memorial Citizens Residence.
The Ministry of Social Protection has also implemented Anger Management training in elderly homes.
Images by: Ameer Sattaur