Vice-Chancellor’s Report
THE UWI FIGHTS COVID-19
More than ever before, we are called to rally around each other. As an activist University, we at The UWI continue to engage in the search for sustainable solutions for the Caribbean to confront the COVID-19 challenge. Universities are built and resourced to serve their communities and nations, so times like these draw precisely on our academy’s purpose. Through science, medicine, engineering and volunteerism, our staff and students are contributing their resources and expertise towards the fight, demonstrating that UWI cares. As we continue to do our part, we are energised by the solidarity of regional unity because it is only together we will get through this. DAILY SURVEILLANCE AND MODELLING by The George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre at The UWI Cave Hill are facilitating evidence- based decision-making in the Caribbean via www.uwi. edu/covid19/surveillance . The website functions as an ‘observatory’ for confirmed COVID-19 cases, deaths and outbreak growth rates for 14 CARICOM countries and 6 UK Overseas Territories, as well as regional heat map models. FRONTLINE CLINICAL CARE Members of our Faculties of Medical Sciences across the region are providing critical care for COVID-19 patients at hospitals and primary care settings and centres. MEDICAL STUDENTS VOLUNTEER Hundreds of medical students from across all our campuses are volunteering to provide supplementary support to doctors and nurses.
UWI Mona students are supporting communication activities for the Ministry of Health and Wellness through the Campus Call Centre and the National Emergency Operations Centre. 100+ students in the District Health Visiting programme at UWI St Augustine are doing contact tracing for the Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago.
Augustine’s Couva and Debe facilities are both in use for COVID-19 patients and quarantined returning nationals. DRUG TREATMENT The Faculty of Medical Sciences at the St Augustine Campus has reviewed the use of drugs for the management of COVID-19 to guide Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Health. GLOBAL SOLIDARITY CLINICAL TRIAL The UWI is part of the World Health Organisation’s ‘Solidarity Trial’ to investigate the efficacy of potential treatment drugs.
Nursing Programme staff are working the COVID Hotlines, and overseeing operations of Field Hospitals.
Cave Hill’s Department of Social Work staff are lending social care assistance to the elderly, along with UWI Five Islands providing COVID-19 relief to single mothers and the elderly. TESTING The National Influenza Centre at The UWI Mona’s Department of Microbiology is testing for COVID-19. Similarly, to help increase testing capacity in Trinidad and Tobago, The UWI St Augustine has handed over the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Molecular Biology Laboratory along with additional PCR machines from its Faculty of Science and Technology’s Department of Life Sciences to the Ministry of Health for real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for COVID-19. FIELD HOSPITALS The UWI Cave Hill, in partnership with the Barbados Defence Force and Ministry of Health and Wellness, is hosting a Respiratory Short Stay Unit, a field hospital on the premises of its E.R. Waldrond Clinical Skills building at Jemmots Lane. In Trinidad and Tobago, The UWI St
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