During the first week of March, the government of Vanuatu reported their first case of Covid community spread. Five days later, the positive cases had reached 252 people infected with Covid.
Following through on a plan in place from August of last year, Vanuatu moved into a high alert system, requiring all non-essential services and businesses to remain closed, and for Vanuatu’s inhabitants to stay home.
The Family Care Centre, located just outside Port Vila, is considered an essential service, and due to the Ministry of Health designating the Port Vila Central Hospital for Covid care and emergency surgeries. All other healthcare needs must go to the small clinics around town. Due to its location, the Family Care Centre is now the primary clinic for about half of the island of Efate.
As of this article’s writing, the Family Care Centre clinic is being run by Nurse Mel and several on-site trained volunteer staff. The clinic operates several days per week. After months of delay, two well-experienced FCC clinic nurses, Anna and Estera, were scheduled to fly into Vanuatu,, but due to positive tests at the Vanuatu border around their flight dates, those flights were again delayed indefinitely.
Chelsea Wood Geiger, the facilitator of the Family Care Centre, shares honestly: “We don’t have any idea of what these next few months are going to look like.”
As this health crisis unfolds in real time in Vanuatu – one of the least equipped nations for handling high need medical emergencies – we ask that you please pray for wisdom for those involved in running and coordinating the clinic, and that God would make a way to supply the needed personnel for the clinic to continue to operate smoothly. Please also pray for every person seeking help at the FCC Clinic – that they would get the medical care they need, but most importantly, that the FCC staff would demonstrate the love and compassion of Jesus to them.
For more information about the FCC, please visit: www.familycarecentre.org