Since 23rd March 2020, more than 400 people have called Empower Pacific’s counselling helpline requesting for food supplies.
Most of these callers live in the Lautoka lockdown area.
Empower Pacific Chief Executive Officer Patrick Morgam says to date they have received more than 600 calls to their 24-hour counselling helpline.
Morgam says in the day they have two counsellors available and up to midnight they have five counsellors on standby.
He says their counselors are working 12-hour shifts and they are in different locations.
Morgam says whenever they get a call, the counsellor at the call centre will call a counsellor that is available.
He says if it is a Hindi or iTaukei speaking client, they will get counsellors that know the languages to speak to them.
He says till midnight they have counsellors available on call and if the call comes after midnight they will follow up with the clients when they start work in the morning.
Morgam says this is a stressful time for people because of COVID-19 so people should talk to someone or call their relatives in the Lautoka lockdown area and talk to them.
They are also providing counselling for those confirmed to have COVID-19 as well as health care workers on the frontline.
This is a stressful time for everyone.
Please talk about it with someone you trust.
You can call Empower Pacific’s 24-hour counselling helpline numbers on 7765 626 for Digicel users and 2937 141 for Vodafone users.
