MWI opens community conversation about improving services

Tuesday 9 January 2018: Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) today invites people to a community conversation event focusing on improving addiction, learning disability and mental health (child, adolescent and adult) services at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute (MWI). The event will take place on Thursday 18 January 2018 at Pier Six. Light refreshments will be provided, with doors opening at 5pm and the event starting at 5:30pm.

Hosted by MWI staff, the event will bring people into conversations about a number of service improvements, some of which come from ideas raised in BHB’s community engagement event last February. Anyone who is interested in improving MWI services is warmly invited to participate, whether a provider of services, a user of services, a family member or a concerned community member.

Projects to be discussed include: a strategy to reduce stigma; establishing a ‘club house’ in Hamilton; supervised community homes for mental health service users; teen life skills programmes in Bermuda; expanding assertive outreach services to schools; learning disability engagement opportunities; and an outreach and education programme for addiction services.

MWI Allied Health Supervisor Morrisa Rogers, who chairs the MWI Engagement Committee organising the event, comments: “We hope there will be a wide variety of perspectives – this is the unique value of this type of community conversation. We have gathered ideas for improvements from community and staff, but to fully appreciate the scope of a project and ensure it reaches its full potential we need service users and providers, concerned residents and families talking with and listening to each other at the very start of a project.”

BHB Chief Operating Officer R Scott Pearman comments: “This event will delve deeper into the purpose and potential of specific projects across all MWI services, making service improvement a truly collaborative effort. We will share what has been achieved since February’s BHB event, but the majority of our time will be listening to people who may not always be at the table, or may not always be talking together, to influence service improvements.”

BHB Chief Executive Officer Venetta Symonds comments: “In February we asked the community generally how can we get it right and nearly 100 people came, raising conversations that were important to them. I’m excited to see community conversations continue as I believe that opening up to community involvement in improvements gives us the best chance of making positive changes.

“If the community values this deep engagement in improving services, we will have similar events for other hospital services. My vision is that we collectively find a new way of evolving, creating change in conversation with the people we serve.”

Donate blood in honour of a loved one this Christmas: A gift only you can give

8 December 2017: Struggling to know what to get someone you love for Christmas? This year you can donate blood in their honour and give them a special Christmas card thanking them for helping save a life over the holidays. Everyone who donates blood from Monday 11 December through to the New Year will be able to write a note for the person they love in a special card when they donate then present it to them at Christmas.

“When someone’s life is precious to you, you understand how precious the gift of life may be to someone else,” says Lucy Correira, Bermuda Blood Donor Centre nurse. “Christmas is about more than money and presents. Donating blood in honour of someone you care for is a gift that has no price. You are truly giving of yourself and your time. This is a unique way of saying what someone means to you – and it only takes 30 minutes!

“People often fear donating because of needles – but it is never as painful you think, and we do all we can to make you as comfortable as possible. To be able to say to a loved one that you faced your fear for their gift, will perhaps say more about how important they are to you than anything else.”

Dr Eyityo Fakunle, Consultant Haematologist, adds: “All the blood we use is from volunteers in Bermuda and so every donation makes a difference to someone in our community. Our regular donors can give a special recognition to a special friend or family member if they are donating over this time, and we truly hope that people who may not have thought of donating before will see the opportunity for a unique and amazing gift.

“Our usual criteria for donating will still apply, so people should ask the nurses when they call the Blood Donor Centre at 236-5067 or email blood.donor@bhb.bm to make an appointment. Our criteria are also available on the website at bdahospitaldev.wpengine.com. Please think of donating over Christmas and beyond – your donation may save a life, or help treat someone with cancer or sickle cell. Your gift truly makes a difference and shows you care.”

Positive response to new Welcoming Policy at KEMH

27 July 2017: A new Welcoming Policy programme has been introduced in the Acute Care Wing units of KEMH this month. The new programme recognises patients often need the emotional support of close friends and family as well as quality medical care as they recover.

Launched on Monday 3 July 2017, the programme gives patients control over who can see them and when. Previously, visitors were limited to general visiting hours between noon and 8pm, and visiting outside of those hours was by exception. Now patients are able to select up to two people as official ‘support people’. The designated support people can be in attendance whenever a patient requests, 24/7, or stay overnight if a patient wants them to. Furthermore, general visiting hours have been extended an hour earlier from 11am to 8pm for all other friends and family.

Norma Smith, Clinical Director of Medical and Surgical Services, headed up a ‘Patient-Centred Care’ committee comprising clinical staff, the Hospitals Auxiliary of Bermuda and Security to oversee the project. Patients were also surveyed about the new programme before it went live.

Mrs Smith comments: “This project is very near and dear to my heart. It is an important step in making people’s experience at KEMH truly patient centred. The key is that patients are in control of who sees them and when, rather than the hospital. The selected support people are people who patients think will best support them. Support people may or may not be immediate family, and patients can elect to have no additional support people and just keep their visitors to general welcoming hours.”

Patients have the support person programme explained to them on admission to an acute care ward so they can decide whether they want support people and who they will be. Their designated support people receive a temporary ID and are formally noted in the patient’s medical file, although patients can change who their support people are throughout their stay. Factsheets for patients and support people are provided.

Mrs Smith adds: “Patient support people are there for emotional support. They do not have to be the official next of kin or guardian, as the role is not decision making. Their role is to be available for the patient so patients have access to the people who can provide a calm, loving, supportive presence while they are in hospital. They are not there to direct care, but if the patient wishes, they may be present during doctor consultations.”

Just a few weeks into the project, and already the hospital is receiving positive responses from patients and their families.

One daughter of a patient wrote of the programme: “I love the flexibility and my dad was so much more at ease before his procedure. Hope more people take advantage of it.”

A patient wrote: “The new initiative of two 24/7 access visitors are a very good one and I’m sure many people will use it.”

A patient’s daughter, who lives in the US and flew in the day before her father’s surgery, stated: “It was so good to be able to come straight from the airport that evening, and stay by his bedside until he settled around midnight. He slept better that night and so did I! I am so grateful for this new programme.”

Another lady stated: “I wear my support badge with pride, and use it to take my elderly sister the paper on my way to work, just like I do when she is at home! It’s great!”

Mrs Smith concludes: “I equate this programme to the discovery of a new piece of equipment that will help patients find comfort and healing. It is heartwarming to know that during those lonely, scary or worrisome times during a hospital stay, patients can have someone of their choosing at their bedside to see them through.”

Photo by Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock

Community survey to help shape clinical services at BHB

12 May 2017: Bermuda Hospitals Board today invites the community to share their perspectives on what is important about BHB services with a survey. The anonymous online survey is being shared as part of BHB’s Clinical Services Planning project. The goal of the project is to listen to feedback, review healthcare data, and speak to various BHB and external stakeholders in order to identify the services BHB should provide the community going forward.

The survey can be accessed at www.surveymonkey.com/r/BHBClinicalServicePlanning. The link can also be found at bdahospitaldev.wpengine.com and on the BHB Facebook page.

BHB Chief Nurse and Project Lead Judy Richardson comments: “Healthcare needs have changed drastically since the Bermuda Hospitals Act 1970 first listed mandated services, and reviewing what services BHB should offer and how BHB fits within the overall health system is well overdue. At the launch of our strategic plan last year, we adopted the triple aim of improving the patient experience, reducing the per capita cost of care and improving population health.

“Our Clinical Services Planning process will be making recommendation on how we think BHB can best achieve these goals through the delivery of clinical services across King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute and the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre. Listening to our staff, physicians, and external stakeholders in the healthcare system and community is a critical part of this project, and we hope people in Bermuda will participate so their perspectives can help shape our eventual recommendations.”

The Clinical Services Planning process is currently in its information gathering phase. Detailed data analysis will take place over the summer, and further opportunities to participate for staff and stakeholders will take place in early fall. The goal is to have a plan with recommendations for the public in January 2018.

Download the BHB Clinical Services Survey Flyer