Healthcare workers from Cornwall helping Gibraltar

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 Wednesday, April 15, 2020 - 09:41

A HEALTHCARE assistant from South East Cornwall is on the frontine of the coronavirus response in Gibraltar.

Debbie O’Donnell put herself forward to assist local medics on the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar as they prepare for cases of COVID-19 amongst the population of 32,000.

At the St Bernard’s Hospital, where Debbie has been working for the past three weeks, there have only been a small number of cases admitted.

There are around 110 cases in the community, she says, and she’s been working on a rehabilitation ward for recovering patients.

Debbie, 53, was one of just 22 employees of agency Newcross selected from 500 to go to Gibraltar, reports her local paper the Cornish Times.

She said: ‘When I saw the post on the work app, I asked my husband Neil straight away if he’d mind if I applied for it, he said it was entirely up to me. I didn’t need to think twice.

‘I found out I’d been chosen on the Saturday and flew out of Stansted on the Sunday.’

Debbie is being accommodated in student digs along with many other visiting health workers and is doing either a 12-hour night shift or a 12-hour day shift.

The local staff have welcomed the visitors with open arms, she says, and ‘people have come up to us in the street and thanked us. The morale here is really high.

‘Lockdown was quite early and I think Gibraltar was very well prepared.

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