Health Services extend clean-up, rodent control as waste crisis persists in St James

WESTERN BUREAU:

Residents in several St James communities continue to grapple with uncollected garbage and increased rodent activity weeks after Hurricane Melissa, prompting an extended response from the St James Health Services aimed at reducing public health risks.

According to Lennox Wallace, parish manager for the St James Health Services, the scale of waste accumulation has exceeded initial projections, complicating cleanup efforts in affected communities.

“When we plan for two days’ waste management for each community, we wind up having to go for up to four days because the bulky waste was even more than we have had anticipated, and that waste was from before the hurricane,” he explained in an interview with The Gleaner ahead of a town hall in Mount Salem on Wednesday.

Despite the challenges, Wallace said the department intends to maintain its rodent and mosquito control programme, citing concerns about the potential strain on already overcrowded health facilities.

“We will continue this for the next six months, because what we are actually doing is preventing persons from getting sick and having to [visit] an already overcrowded hospital or an already overcrowded health centre,” he added.

Wallace acknowledged growing frustration among residents seeking clarity on cleanup schedules but said the department remains focused on public education as a core element of primary healthcare.

“No amount of community meetings can help by themselves,” he said. “The media has helped us to press home the information and education about what residents can do during and after a disaster like this, and they are complying with it.”

The St James Health Services launched its $60-million rodent and mosquito control programme on January 6, following complaints from residents across the parish about delayed garbage collection and a surge in rodent activity after Hurricane Melissa last October. The programme, which will operate in eight clusters of communities at varying intervals, is not intended to replace the work of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

PRIORITY AREAS

Wallace identified Mount Salem, Cambridge, and Maroon Town as priority areas for intensified cleanup and waste-management education, pointing to several open dump sites as major concerns.

“The biggest concern for Mount Salem is the open dump that is located at Vernon’s Drive, and there is also one immediately after you pass the Cornwall Regional Hospital, at an open lot, where a church used to be,” The garbage is not contained, so it provides easy access for rodents that the hurricane would have already displaced,” he explained.

He added that conditions in St James Southern, including Maroon Town and Cambridge, remain particularly troubling due to what he described as an unacceptable level of garbage buildup.

Meanwhile, Dramaine Jones, regional operations manager for the NSWMA’s Western Parks and Markets, said Mt Salem continues to require frequent intervention because of persistent illegal dumping.

“Mount Salem is an area that we maintain frequently, but when the garbage skip is full, persons start to dump along the roadside, and they dump from Vernon Drive coming out on to the main road,” said Jones. “There is also a dump site a little down the road from Mount Salem, across from Crichton Drive, and that area is cleaned on a daily basis.”

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com