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Friends of Hospice and BHB sign memorandum of understanding

11 July 2019: Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) and Friends of Hospice, the charity that has been supporting Bermuda’s only hospice Agape House for 25 years, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to allow Friends of Hospice to develop a new purpose-built hospice facility on the BHB-owned Harbour Vista site, situated at 25 Berry Hill Road, Paget.

Venetta Symonds, BHB CEO (seated) and Alison Soares, Friends of Hospice Chairman, sign the MOU

This Memorandum of Understanding allows Friends of Hospice to move forward with the development of the 1.23-acre site to build a hospice facility that will serve the Bermuda community for many years to come. The new site, situated on a hilltop adjacent to Kind Edward VII Memorial Hospital, will provide patients and their families with a peaceful and intimate setting with view of both Hamilton Harbour and Bermuda’s South Shore. The new facility will have 8 single patient rooms, each with access to an outdoor balcony, a central nursing station, as well as meeting rooms for families, a meditation room, all surrounded by beautiful and serene gardens.

Friends of Hospice chairman Alison Soares, said, “This is another exciting step towards creating a much-needed purpose-built new residential hospice facility for our Bermuda community. While our existing facility provides excellent care, the needs of the community have grown beyond what we can realistically and effectively provide in our existing facility, which is well over 100 years old in some parts. It is our vision that everyone deserves the right to compassion, dignity, respect and comfort in their final days and our plans for the new build will position us well to continue to provide the best hospice and palliative care for many years to come.

“There is still much work to be done before we start construction,” Ms Soares said, “but we are grateful to BHB for making it possible for us to move forward. While plans are already at an advanced stage, this allows us to complete plans with the architects, finalize costs and timelines and ultimately share all details with the community, which will be in the coming weeks.”

BHB CEO, Venetta Symonds, added: “We are very pleased to formally sign this MOU, which paves the way towards a new hospice building. Both BHB and Friends of Hospice staff working in partnership help ensure a wonderful and caring service to patients and their families. A purpose-built building provides opportunities to fully realize all the potential of this wonderful hospice service. We remain grateful to Friends of Hospice for their dedicated support and involvement over 25 years, and we are excited to move forward on this exciting project with them.”

Bermuda Hospitals Board owns and operates Agape House, which cares for patients with a broad range of serious and life-threatening illnesses, taking a holistic approach to patient care in line with international best practices. Friends of Hospice (Bermuda charity #391) is the charity providing financial support to Agape House, as well as specialized therapeutic programmes and services that are complementary to medical treatment, as well as meal services, and a number of other support services.

Additional details on Friends of Hospice’s plans for a new hospice facility – including architectural drawings and fundraising plans – will be forthcoming by end of summer.

11 July 2019 Home Page, News

Bacardi Wins Bermuda Corporate Blood Drive Competition 2018/19 for the Third Time

Friday 14 June 2019: Bermuda Hospitals Board and the Ministry of Health today announced Bacardi as the winner of the 2018/19 Corporate Blood Drive as part of the celebrations of World Blood Donor Day. The revolving trophy and certificate were awarded to Bacardi by the Hon. Kim Wilson JP MP, Minister of Health.

“We are very pleased to celebrate Bacardi, who have won the Corporate Blood Drive for the last three consecutive years,” says Dr Eyitayo Fakunle, Consultant Haematologist at BHB. “It was a keen contest this year and I’d also like to recognise Butterfield & Vallis, Bermuda Police Service, Argo Ariel Re and Sunlife Financial. The staff of the companies worked together as a team to ensure the success of the friendly competition!”

Dr Fakunle says: “It is important to recognize all the competitors not just about the winner: it is the collective effort that makes a difference. We had a record number of 21 participating companies and this resulted in a record number of donations. If we total all the donations together, the competing companies contributed nearly a third of all blood donations made. We cannot emphasise enough that this competition is saving lives and we very much hope more businesses will consider joining. We would also like to thank the employers who might not be in the competition, but who still support their staff coming to donate.”

The competing companies this year were: Aon, Argo Ariel Re, Bacardi, Bermuda Police Service, Bermuda Post Office, Butterfield Bank, Butterfield & Vallis, Chubb, Colonial Group, Deloitte, Department of Corrections, Fidelity, Hamilton Insurance Group, Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, Kiston Group of Companies, Lancashire Insurance, Marketplace, Marsh McLennan, Sunlife Financial, Validus and XL Catlin.

Dr Cheryl Peek-Ball, Chief Medical Officer, Ministry of Health, adds: “This is such an important competition, ensuring we can continue to care for people with conditions such cancer and sickle cell, and respond to patient needs in surgical and emergency situations. Thank you to all the competing companies and congratulations to Bacardi for their third win in a row! There is a lot of passion and dedication behind that winning streak. Finally, Bermuda’s appreciation must be extended to all the competing companies. Know that you are part of a collective that is saving lives every day.”

Companies who wish to join or find out more about the competition for 2019/20 should call the Blood Donor Centre at 236-5067, or email blood.donor@bhb.bm.

14 June 2019 Home Page, News

BHB and Johns Hopkins update on clinical affiliation

6 May 2019: Bermuda Hospitals Board today gave an update on activity of its clinical affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine International, which now includes a continuing medical education programme for physicians in Bermuda, a residency programme and service improvements in areas such as stroke and psychiatry.

Venetta Symonds, CEO, comments: “I’m excited that we are on this journey to improve on-island care for our families, friends and communities with them. It is BHB’s vision to deliver exceptional through strong partnerships and support a healthy community. We ran a robust and lengthy RFP process for our clinical affiliate and six highly acclaimed hospitals applied and went through extensive review. Johns Hopkins won not only due to their quality and status in the healthcare world, but their deep affinity to and understanding of Bermuda.”

Michael Richmond, Chief of Staff, Bermuda Hospitals Board, comments: “At the heart of the affiliation is access to quality education for physicians in the hospital and Bermuda. Our Continuing Medical Education programme is now accredited by one of the world’s best known and highly respected healthcare providers, and our first CME was held last night.

“We are working with Johns Hopkins as advisers in services we are seeking to improve. Stroke treatment and rehabilitation, for example, is a key focus. We have four to five stroke cases come to the hospital per week. We want to ensure we are giving every stroke patient the best possible chance at full recovery, and also identifying people at risk even earlier to try and prevent one altogether. We are also looking at psychiatry for opportunities to improve and find more effective ways to structure and deliver our services. We look forward to keeping the community updated on all our improvements and especially how our affiliation with Johns Hopkins is improving care for all our community.”

Dr Mohan Chellappa, Executive Vice President and President, Global Ventures, Johns Hopkins Medicine International, comments: “We are honored to contribute to the Bermudian health care journey. Johns Hopkins Medicine’s mission is to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and patient care. And the unique community of Bermuda holds a special place in our hearts at Johns Hopkins.

“We are delighted to now take our commitment a step further, through our clinical affiliation agreement with Bermuda Hospitals Board. We will support BHB staff with education and training, and together, we’re now in the process of establishing a primary stoke centre and preparing for accreditation in the area of acute stroke care in 2021. Our affiliation also includes a programme for Johns Hopkins residents—medical doctors who have graduated from an accredited medical school and are completing additional specialist training at Johns Hopkins. Our residents will complete four-week rotations to Bermuda to perform short-term clinical and quality improvement projects. Our clinical affiliation with Bermuda Hospitals Board is an important part of Johns Hopkins’ vision to enhance health care around the world, by sharing our latest clinical advances and research findings in a way that contributes to local health care needs and goals, for many years to come.”

7 May 2019 Home Page, News

Red Cross Donates Scooter to Gordon Ward Residents

2 February 2019: Residents on BHB’s Gordon Ward have access to an electric scooter, thanks to a donation from Bermuda Red Cross. The donated scooter will be used by various residents who have mobility issues, to help them within and outside the hospital building.

Bermuda Red Cross Scooter Donation

Executive Director of Bermuda Red Cross, Ann Spencer-Arscott, with Clinical Resource Nurse for Gordon Ward, Roland Peters.

Mr Roland Peters, Clinical Resource Nurse for Gordon Ward, comments: “We are very grateful for this kind donation which is very much appreciated by our unit residents. Some of our residents have physical disabilities, but very much want to be able to move around and get outside. This scooter will help improve the quality of their lives and give them some independence.”

Ann Spencer-Arscott, Executive Director of Bermuda Red Cross, comments: “We are so happy to donate a scooter which will be such a valuable resource for Gordon Ward residents. This is part of our mission to meet the needs of our local population. While this scooter was a donation, we also have a number of scooters available to rent for people who might have temporary mobility issues or are visiting the island. These are a resource for people in Bermuda and they can call us to book one as needed.”

5 February 2019 Home Page, News

Bermuda Blood Donor Centre thanks polo shirt donors

5 December 2018: Bermuda Blood Donor Centre is today thanking two donors, Mr Peter Barrett and Chubb, who have provided funding for polo shirts that are being awarded to long term blood and apheresis donors who have donated throughout this year.

Peter Barrett first made a donation for the Blood Donor Centre to purchase shirts for people who donated over a 3 month period if they were long term donors. To make this a more regular thank you throughout 2018, Chubb stepped in to fund the rest of the year’s supply of the shirts.  Chubb is also a competitor in the Corporate Blood Donor Competition 2018/19.

Dr Eyitayo Fakunle, Consultant Haematologist, comments: “Our blood donation is entirely voluntary, in line with World Health Organisation best practices. These shirts show our gratitude for people who have donated regularly this year, supported by Mr Barrett and Chubb. We are very grateful to them for this support in recognizing true heroes who save lives in Bermuda every day. Our hope is that seeing friends and family in the polo shirt may also encourage others to overcome whatever inhibitions they have and to join the most giving group in Bermuda – blood and apheresis donors.”

Mr Barrett comments: “It was a pleasure to work with the Blood Donor Centre to initiate this programme.  We should all be very grateful that Chubb has stepped forward to keep this programme going.  For those who can, I encourage everyone to volunteer a small part of their day to donate.  Your pint of blood saves lives and it also helps to manage the healthcare needs of at least three patients.  Without question your donation has a significant ripple effect throughout the community.”

5 December 2018 Home Page, News