Community Focus: Chatam Postal Agency needs bathroom facilities

The absence of bathroom facilities at the Chatam Postal Agency in St James has been exposing postal workers and customers to health risks.

"The agency does not have a bathroom from ever since," postmistress Julia Reid, 80, who has been working at the facility for more than 20 years, said.

"When they first built the agency, those times they had outside toilets, but that has been broken down for years now," Reid explained.

"Now, it is a good thing that I live nearby, so whenever I need to use the bathroom, I have to go home. Having one here would be more convenient because the lack of a bathroom has its risks," she added.

Chatam is situated in East Central St James, which is represented by Edmund Bartlett.

"Years ago when Bartlett just win, they said they would fix it. They even dropped some materials like sand, stone and cement, but them take them up back. That was the last attempt to give the agency a bathroom," she claimed.

Reid stated that at one point, the agency's ceiling had been in a bad state and the community got it fixed.

"So, if we want it, then maybe the community have to go do it," she said.

The postal agency is also in need a facelift, as well as a new cupboard to hold the dozens of letters that are sent to the facility each week.