Cyclone Winston

Tropical Cyclone Winston. A category 5 tropical cyclone (TC) that not only destroyed lives but changed many, in ways unimaginable.

I was at home in Suva, wide awake with my family when TC Winston hit. After a day, I was called back into work ( I work with the Health Ministry leading communications, media and health promotion).

Being an essential service, many health officials if not all, were called into work or directed to be on stand by. Reports were coming in from all over Fiji on the status of health facilities. TC Winston had left a chaos on its way out.

I was asked to accompany the Hon. Minister for Health & Medial Services Mr Jone Usamate as he checked in with facilities. Another reason for this visit was to meet with staff that were in the line of duty when the cyclone hit.

We shot off towards Ra stopping at health facilities on the way. At each stop, a team did damage assessment of infrastructure and interim solutions to ensure that health services were operating as normal as possible.

In the meantime, Hon. Health Minister was checking in with health staff and how they were coping. Honestly, listening to how health staff risked their lives to save or attend to others was truly commendable.

While we were sheltered in our homes, some of the nurses were literally walking around during this disaster trying to reach shelter. To top it off, when they reached a village they immediately started attending to injuries!

For me personally, witnessing this devastation and hearing first hand how people coped with such trying and devastating times was heart wrenching.

While there are many complaints about the Health system in Fiji. Through my work, i have been able to see first hand how many health officials go out of their to provide services. Just because some areas of services are flawed, does not necessarily mean the entire health system is.

As they say, you cannot satisfy everyone!

Anyway,while many are slowly yet steadily building back better, I hope we all are doing our bit and helping our brothers and sisters get back on their feet.