Dr. Sheila Campbell-Forrester with Director of Mental Health Services, Dr. Earl Wright, at the launch of a new mental health promotion programme at the Terra Nova Hotel in New Kingston last week. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

She is a quiet hero and public servant, a medical doctor and a mother. Meet Dr. Sheila Campbell-Forrester, the acting chief medical officer of health for Jamaica.

A woman in charge, Dr. Campbell-Forrester has made significant strides in her 58 years of existence on planet Earth.

Her role as a leader began in 1970, when she was one of Jamaica's youth representatives at the United Nations 25th Youth Assembly. Audley Shaw, Opposition Spokesman on Health, and Derrick Smith, Opposition Spokesman on National Security, were also part of that delegation.

Dr. Campbell-Forrester said the experience was "great" and she, as well as the other youths, made a commitment to make something of their lives. That was where her interest in public health began as she was put on a committee to look at issues affecting the environment.

After pursuing her childhood dream of becoming a medical doctor at the University of the West Indies (UWI), in 1975 Dr. Campbell-Forrester joined the Ministry of Health as an intern at the Kingston Public Hospital.

Post-graduate work

After completing her internship, she worked at several hospitals in Kingston, after which she pursued post-graduate work in public health at the UWI.

Having earned a post-graduate degree, she was later promoted to the position of medical officer of health for Kingston and St. Andrew and later served in the same position for the parishes of Manchester, Trelawny and St. James on different occasions. She was appointed senior medical officer of health for the western region in 1989.

Dr. Campbell-Forrester's area of interest lies in adolescent health and she was part of a team which conducted the first major research in the Caribbean in this area between 1997 and 2001.

The research deals with a range of issues including mental health, sexuality, violence, and hunger in children at school, among other things.

In 1997, Dr. Campbell-Forrester received the Hubert Humphrey award and pursued a one-year programme in international health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta.

In 1998, when the Government decided to decentralise the health sector, she was appointed regional director for the Western Regional Health Authority.

"It was exciting because it was new and it was when the Government decided to embrace health reform," she told The Gleaner last week at the Ministry of Health's offices, downtown Kingston.

And while there were challenges of change and budget, Dr. Campbell-Forrester managed to achieve several things.

Last August, Dr. Campbell-Forrester, who is a graduate of St. Andrew High School, was asked to act for a month for Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barry Wint, who was ill. He died in September and since then she has been in charge.

As acting chief medical officer for Jamaica, Dr. Campbell-Forrester's duties are wide-ranging. She is in charge of medical services in the island and is also responsible for health linkages between international agencies and the Ministry of Health. Another aspect of her duties is the development of health services in the ministry and strategic planning. She also advises the permanent secretary on new trends in technology, among other things.

Though she remains humble, Dr. Campbell-Forrester is delighted to be in the position.

"If you had a childhood dream that one day you'd become chief medical officer and then you got there, it has to be a great feeling. I feel happy about my achievements and I believe that all through my life, God has been my planner," she said with a smile.

Dr. Campbell-Forrester, who is also a lay preacher at the Wesley Methodist Church in Hanover, recognises that many persons criticise the health sector, claiming that the Government is not doing enough to address the conditions that patients and staff grapple with each day.

Standard

"We acknowledge that there are aspects of public health and hospital care which are not at the standard that they ought to be," she said "It might not appear that we are working at it. There are no magic bullets. We will have to assiduously work at the problems, identify what they are and work through the solutions," she said.

However, she says the ministry is proud of its health service especially since the 1970s, because Jamaica has been relatively disease free and immunisation coverage has been "very good".

The 58-year-old acting medical officer of health received her first baptism of crisis in December, when four cases of malaria were identified in Delacree Park, Denham Town, Trench Town and Tivoli Gardens. The number of cases has since risen to 334.

This outbreak has been a challenge for Dr. Campbell-Forester, but she has remained calm through it all.

"We have a good team but the challenge we had (was that) we didn't have enough human resources in some of the areas. Fortunately for us, we were able to get some help from other countries," she told The Gleaner.

Dr. Campbell-Forrester also indicated that malaria was new to some of the staff at the Ministry of Health, as the disease had been eradicated some 40 years ago. As a result, she said there were no clear guidelines on how to deal with the crisis.

"We had to be developing our guidelines and rules as we went along and we made some mistakes as we went along," she explained.

Some of these mistakes, she said, included the direction in which they should have been spraying and the identification of breeding sites. "With development, the mosquitoes might have developed different habits so the whole map that we had of breeding sites was no longer relevant," said Dr. Campbell-Forrester.

"I am happy that we're having between single and double-digit numbers but I continue to be concerned about areas such as Greenwich Town," she added. "One cannot be satisfied until you see zero cases."

Dr. Campbell Forrester says doctors and nurses who criticise the health sector have a right to complain. "I think it (the situation) makes it much more difficult for them to give quality care but I also think that we have to separate that from our own attitude to the patient," she said.

"And while we advocate for improvement in conditions, and I think we have a responsibility for improving their conditions of work, they (health care workers) also have a responsibility to patients to make sure that even under the conditions, persons get best-quality care and that they are shown respect and love and compassion," she said.

Dr. Campbell-Forrester is married to Egerton and has two children, Michelle and Maya.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com