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 as they prepare for cases of COVID-19 amongst the population of 32,000.

At the island’s hospital St Bernard’s, 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.

But a field hospital was opened last week in a converted sports centre in anticipation of a steep rise in cases.

Debbie, 53, was one of just 22 employees of agency Newcross selected from 500 to go to Gibraltar.

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,’ she said.

‘Lockdown was quite early and I think Gibraltar was very well prepared. They had seen what has been happening in other parts of the world. We weren’t sure what we would be walking into, especially as in Spain it has been so harsh.’

Debbie has been impressed with the personal protective equipment and the safety procedures at the hospital.

‘We’ve got full body PPE, gowns, masks, goggles, two layers of gloves,’ she said.

‘There are cleaners here 24 hours a day, they are not cutting corners. I don’t feel worried.’

While Debbie and her family back home miss each other, she says they were ‘100 per cent behind my decision to go’. She expects to be back towards the end of June, depending on how the COVID-19 outbreak progresses in Gibraltar.Are you having difficulty getting hold of your copy of the Cornish Times? For online subscriptions, look for the 'subscribe' button on the right hand side of the home page of this website. To have a printed copy of the Cornish Times delivered, call 01566 772424 or 01566 778226 and ask for a postal subscription