New Chief of Emergency and Hyperbaric Services announced

27 June 2018: Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) today announces the appointment of Dr Chikezie Dean Okereke as Chief of Emergency and Hyperbaric Services, effective Monday 2 July 2018, on a three-year contract. He replaces Dr Edward Schultz, who has retired from BHB.

Dr Okereke has been employed in the Emergency Department of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital since August 2016. After graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Nigeria College of Medicine, Dr Okereke completed postgraduate medical training in the UK, obtaining a Fellowship in Surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and a Fellowship in Emergency Medicine from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. He has also completed a Masters in Medical Education from the University of Leeds.

Prior to joining BHB, Dr Okereke worked as a substantive consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Mid-Yorkshire NHS Trust in the UK for over 16 years. During this period, he held a number of senior medical leadership and training positions within the Trust, the West Yorkshire region and nationally. His main interests are in medical education and training, trauma and critical care. He is a member of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the British Medical Association, and regularly examines for the College of Emergency Medicine.

Dr Michael Richmond, BHB Chief of Staff, comments: “We are very pleased to announce Dr Chikezie Dean Okereke as the new Chief of Emergency and Hyperbaric Services. We are grateful to Dr Schultz, not only for his long service at BHB, but for continuing in position until this transition could take place. Dr Schultz will be missed by the community and staff and we wish him the very best for the future.

“We now look forward to Dr Okereke providing clinical leadership in ED and Hyperbaric Services to continue improving this busy service at the frontline of care, as we evolve to meet the complex demands of an aging, increasingly unwell population.”

Therapeutic garden for youth with mental health challenges gets $8,000 boost

25 June 2018: Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust (BHCT) and Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) today announce an $8,000 donation to develop a therapeutic garden for Child & Adolescent Services (CAS) in its location at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute.

BHCT Executive Director Lisa Sheppard says: “BHCT is very happy to fund the creation of a therapeutic garden for the service users at CAS. We are looking forward to seeing the development of the service to include this type of therapeutic approach. Young people who have challenges need this kind of creative and natural space, and having it available for them at CAS will be a wonderful enhancement of what is already a wonderful service doing amazing work for our youth.”

Jascinth Albouy-Onyia, Assistant Director Mental Health Services, comments: “This wonderful donation will help us create an intimate space where individuals can be immersed in scents, textures and colours. In the garden we will have items such as wind chimes and children’s art, providing both creative and educational opportunities for our service users, both able-bodied and individuals with physical challenges. It will add to the repertoire of interventions available when working with young people with major challenges and psychiatric diagnoses, and those with sensory processing difficulties.

“The sensory features of a therapeutic garden help individuals with natural ‘cues’ to interpret, better use and connect to their environment. The design we envision will be multi-sensory, with taste, touch, smell, sound and visual elements to provide a positive and rewarding experience for service users of our inpatient, outpatient, day programme services, and the Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinic. We are very grateful for this donation which makes this garden possible.”

In the photo above, standing in the area that will be turned into the therapeutic garden, from left to right: R Scott Pearman, Chief Operating Officer, BHB; Preston Swan, Vice President, Clinical Operations, BHB; Lisa Sheppard, Executive Director, BHCT; Ashley Simons-Crane, Clinical Assistant, CAS; and Vikita Basden, Social Worker, CAS.

Bacardi wins Bermuda Corporate Blood Drive – again!

14 June 2018: Bermuda Hospitals Board and the Ministry of Health today reveal Bacardi Limited as the winner of Bermuda’s Corporate Blood Drive Competition 2018, as part of the celebration of World Blood Donor Day. This is the second time in successive years Bacardi has won the competition. In second place was Butterfield & Vallis and in third, Hamilton Re Group.

In its sixth year, the Corporate Blood Donor Drive encouraged 484 whole blood and apheresis donations in total from all competing companies in 2018. That is 14% more than in the 2017 competition and the highest number of donations in any previous year of the competition. It represents about a quarter of all donations over the year.

The Hon Kim Wilson, JP MP, Minister of Health, comments: “Congratulations to Bacardi and thank you to all the competing companies! The Ministry is proud to partner with the Bermuda Blood Donor Centre and BHB for this competition. It’s a great way to encourage blood donations and there is no better return on investment for a company’s community giving than saving lives. Thank you to all the support from our local companies to encourage and support those donating.”

The 18 competing companies were: Argo, Argus, Bacardi Ltd, Bank of NT Butterfield, Bermuda Police Service, BF&M, Bermuda Monetary Authority, Butterfield & Vallis, Department of Corrections, Department of Customs, Department of Health, Fidelity, Hamilton Re Group, Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, Kitson Group of Companies, Lancashire Insurance Company Ltd, SunLife Financial International and Zurich Bermuda.

Dr Eyitayo Fakunle, BHB’s consultant haematologist, comments: “It’s two years in a row for Bacardi and the competition was on fire this year! What great competitors we had. While someone has to win, every donation counts and all our competing companies have saved lives. Every person who donates is there in someone else’s hour of need – they are unsung and anonymous heroes for countless people in Bermuda. It is with gratitude as well as congratulations that we thank the competitors.”

Lisa Frias, Manager, Global Finance, Bacardi Limited, adds: “We are excited to have won for a second consecutive year, our second year of participating in the Corporate Blood Drive. Our staff, their families and friends, and even a few of our consultants, responded well, showing the caring that our company is known for. While we’re happy to have won the trophy, we realise it is a competition in which no one loses. We’re proud to have contributed along with all the other Corporate Blood Drive participants to providing for a record number of donations in the competition.”

Bermuda Hospitals Board announces Road Traffic Accident Statistics for the period 1 January – 30 April 2018

07 June 2018: Bermuda Hospitals Board road traffic statistics for the period 1 January 2018 – 30 April 2018, shows the following:

490 victims required the Emergency Department

36 victims were admitted to the Acute Care Wing

5 victims were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit

4 victims 18 or younger were admitted to the hospital and,

3 victims were discharged to overseas medical facilities, following road traffic accidents.

Bermuda Hospitals Board provides this information monthly in 11 X 17 poster format. Please post wherever you are able.

BHB RTA posters Apr2018

Also watch this month’s animation.