Cleaners provide week of free services to senior citizens

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in three deaths and dozens of confirmed cases on the island, the CEO of We Entertainment Cleaning Company, Oneil Williams, said he was reminding Jamaicans to be their brother's keeper.

In practising what he preaches, Williams and members of his team have pledged to clean two homes of elderly persons daily, specifically those who live alone.

"We have to be more socially minded to the care of our elderly during this time. With our first reported death from corona being an elderly, it is no question that they are the most at risk and they really need persons to rally around them especially at this time, and maintaining and cleaning their living spaces does help to lessen the transmission of the virus. We just want them to know that we care about their well-being," Williams said.

With his studies in biochemistry, Williams said that he knows the importance of ensuring that his team wears proper safety gear and use eco-friendly chemicals to prevent transference of any bacteria/virus to the household.

The recipients of the free cleaning services are usually recommended by others, and among the first on the list was a senior citizen in Kingston 11.

"Our recipient was overjoyed to see young persons. Our team members are between the ages of 25 and 30, and when she saw what we did without looking for anything in return, she was really happy to know that someone cared at that time. It warmed our hearts just to see the joy on her face," he said.

Currently, We Entertainment Cleaning has volunteered its services to eight homes within Kingston and St Andrew.

On-call medical associate

"When the names are referred to us, we will make a call to the homeowner or a family member, and if they request our help, our communication manager will do a site visit to assess the working space. We also try to be out of close contact with the resident while we work," Williams said.

"We also have our on-call medical associate, who screens both our team members and the recipient, and ask the required heath questions that correspond to the COVID-19 symptoms before we start," he added.

He said that although social interaction should be limited at this time, it is of utmost importance to check on the elderly who live as shut-ins and live alone, as well as those who have non-communicable illnesses.

Currently, Williams said they have paused their one week of free services in light of the islandwide nightly curfew. They will resume on April 8.