BHB opens UCC for the public holidays and encourages a safe holiday for all

Tuesday 29 July 2025: Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) today advises that the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre will open over the public holidays.

The hours of operation will be from noon to 8pm on Emancipation Day (Thursday 31 July) and Mary Prince Day (Friday 1 August). This will be in addition to its regular weekend hours of 9am to 9pm (Saturday and Sunday).

Chief of Emergency and Hyperbaric Services, Dr Chikezie Okereke, comments: “We urge everyone to prioritise their health and safety over the entire Cup Match holiday weekend. It’s a great holiday to be with friends and family, but please plan in advance to ensure you have your medications and supplies. Don’t drink alcohol and drive, and be prepared for hot and sunny weather if you are out on a boat, at the beach or at the game – drink plenty of water, wear sunscreen, a hat and shirt.

“Our UCC service will be there for minor illnesses and accidents, and our Emergency Department as usual will be there for more serious conditions,” he adds, “but look out for yourself, your friends and family.  You don’t want a medical emergency interrupting your Cup Match holiday weekend activities and fun.”

While the significant pressure experienced at the beginning of the month at KEMH has eased, CEO & President, Scott Pearman reminds people to take those ready for discharge home before and during the holiday period.

“Along with being responsible for your own health, please don’t forget family members who may be ready for discharge around the holiday period, and don’t bring someone in just for a safe place to stay,” he says.

“The hospital is not somewhere your loved ones should be for the holiday weekend unless they need to be here. This will cause problems for people with real emergency and acute care needs. Be safe yourself and do the right thing for your loved ones.”

BHB summer students see live surgeries through partnership with Liberty Science Center

Wednesday 23 July 2025: BHB partnered with Liberty Science Center for the first time this year to give a select group of its summer students the opportunity to watch live surgeries as part of their work experience at BHB.

Erin Basden, Coordinator HR Programmes

Coordinator-HR Programmes Erin Basden explains: “We secured 10 spots for a number of surgeries. It was great to be able to offer such ah meaningful experience as part of our summer student programme and we will be looking to continue this partnership in the future. It was very informative, eye-opening and offered our students another avenue to benefit their career journey.”

The live video events were held throughout June. The BHB summer students were able to peer into an operating room to see a kidney transplant, robotic surgery and neurosurgery, and were able to communicate with the doctors. There was also a Meet the Surgeon session with a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon who joined live and presented students with recorded footage from one of her procedures and discussed her career path.

One of the 10 BHB summer students who participated was Bermudian Sanaa Simmons, a first-year medical student who is studying at the University of Liverpool, who worked in the Quality & Risk Management Department at BHB over the summer.

Sanaa Simmons, BHB Summer Student

“The opportunity to witness live surgeries provided by the Liberty Science Centre was insightful and inspiring,” she says.

“I particularly enjoyed observing the paediatric ACL reconstruction, and Dr Samara Friedman was eager to answer our questions and share her story. From growing up as an athlete, to employing her dexterous skills throughout her younger life, she explained how paediatric orthopaedic surgery was best fit for her.

“Moreover, the kidney transplant surgery was well delivered; the procedure was narrated in an accessible way.

“We became further educated on triage processes, organ rejection, and long-term lifestyle changes to patients – ultimately reinforcing how imperative it is to showcase empathy in the medical field.”

BHB welcomes 45 summer students

Thursday 17 July 2025: Bermuda Hospitals Board has welcomed 45 local students with summer employment this year.

“The students are working in departments related to their specific field of study and range from clinical areas like nursing, the lab, imaging services and mental health services, to information technology and finance,” said Nyon Steede, director of human resources and operations.

This year 12 of the 45 are medical students, with seven studying nursing. Nineteen students are pursuing studies in a variety of other fields.

“We are pleased with the high calibre of young Bermudians joining us this year,” said Mr Steede. “Following the successful partnership with BHB’s Intellectual Disability Programme last year, we were able to place five of their clients into our summer student programme, providing these promising young people equal opportunity to be acquainted with and gain workplace experience.”

The summer students employed by BHB were selected from 141 applicants. This year’s cohort is aged between 20 and 29. The minimum age accepted is 18. Two of the students are in their first year of college, while the remainder have been in college or university for two or more years.

“BHB scholarship recipients are given first preference in placements,” said Mr Steede. “This year we have welcomed five general scholarship winners: medical students Jahmir Celestine, Storm Gibbons, Veronica Swan-DeGraff and Shani Tucker, and nursing student Sarae Botelho.”

CEO & President Scott Pearman said: “We hope to inspire and give some practical exposure to students in their chosen field of study through our summer programme. Eager to develop the next generation of healthcare professionals, we also want to entice them to return to us after graduation for fulltime positions.

“In addition, BHB has partnered with the Ministry of Education. Through the year we will be providing opportunities for students at Berkeley Institute – the sciences and healthcare signature school – to learn more about careers in health professions. In the coming years, we hope to see these students join our summer programme and be awarded BHB scholarships to pursue their goals.”

Students interested in becoming summer interns at BHB should look for application notices in late December. The deadline is always the last day of February, with next summer’s deadline set for Saturday 28 February 2026.

Help shape the future of your hospital services – We want to hear from you!

Thursday 3 July 2025: Bermuda Hospitals Board is creating a new Vision 2030 Strategic Plan and is asking the community to provide their thoughts and feedback in a short, online survey.

The survey can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BHB2030.  The deadline is 31 August 2025.

CEO & President Scott Pearman comments: “We’re asking you to take a few minutes to complete a short, anonymous survey. Your feedback will help us better understand what matters most to the people we serve and how we can improve the way we deliver care over the next few years. This feedback will be used along with internal surveys and groups, reviews of data and of our existing strategy. We know there are challenges, but we are excited about what the future could bring and look forward to sharing more as the strategy is developed.

“There is an opportunity for members of the community to also volunteer to be part of in-person focus groups. Anyone interested can email OD@bhb.bm with their full name, and the email or phone number that they would like to be contacted with.

“However you’d like to participate, thank you for helping us build a better future for healthcare in Bermuda!”

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Emergency Department performance better than international benchmarks for time in emergency

Friday 20 June 2025: As part of national Emergency Day on 27 May, BHB collated its Emergency Department (ED) data to highlight the achievements of the ED team.

The BHB Emergency Department (ED) team includes doctors, nurses, nurse’s aides, emergency medical technicians, social workers and environmental services and security personnel, as well as all the BHB supporting departments. It is also important to acknowledge others such as our pre-hospital first responders (Bermuda fire and rescue service team and St John’s voluntary emergency medical technicians) and community surgeons in Bermuda who all respond to emergencies or support emergency care in one form or another.

CEO & President Scott Pearman notes. “As a front-line service, Bermuda Hospitals Board would like to recognise all the dedicated professionals who provide emergency care around the clock. This year has been extremely challenging for the ED. The high number of medically-fit-for-discharge patients in KEMH has caused long wait times for patients waiting for admission to an inpatient unit, and those people waiting in the ED for a bed then fill up the Emergency Department itself. Amazingly, despite this, outside of patients waiting for an inpatient bed, the majority of people are seen and discharged from our ED faster than international benchmarks.

“I would like to thank our ED staff who have continued to care throughout this very challenging year to date and ensure every person in Bermuda got the care they needed.”

Chief of Staff, Anna Neilson-Williams says, “KEMH’s Emergency Department carries a unique responsibility as Bermuda’s only hospital ED, handling every emergency on the island. Despite this challenge, the team consistently delivers care that meets rigorous standards.

“Notably, KEMH is a designated Primary Stroke Centre through a partnership with Johns Hopkins Medicine International. This affiliation has brought global best practices for stroke diagnosis and treatment to Bermuda, ensuring patients receive expert care close to home. Work is also underway with Johns Hopkins to improve our emergency medical response to trauma and burns and improve outcomes for our most seriously injured patients.”

Chief of Emergency, Dr Chikezie Dean Okereke, explains that his department’s ability to meet international benchmarks has continued even through this year’s challenges.

“For the twelve months, April 2024 to March 2025, the ED recorded approximately 29,105 visits, involving about 18,123 individuals, 96% of whom were Bermuda residents. Among them, 1,188 patients presented with life-threatening conditions such as heart attacks, major trauma or severe respiratory distress that required immediate, high-priority care.

“About 15,000 other attendances involved urgent but not immediately dangerous conditions — these still required significant resources such as tests, imaging and consultations to diagnose and manage.

“Despite the high volume, the emergency department team consistently delivered timely care. The median time from arrival to triage (initial nurse assessment) was just 14 minutes, and patients who did not require admission typically spent around three hours and eight minutes from registration to treatment and discharge. About 12% of patients were admitted to hospital for further care, while the remainder were safely treated and discharged. It should be noted that internationally, most public emergency departments aim to keep the median time between registration and discharge to within four hours.”

Dr Okereke warns, however, that people shouldn’t use this as a reason to come to hospital instead of seeing their primary care physicians (GPs).

“Just under half our patient are in the lowest two levels of acuity – meaning they have conditions or injuries that do not require Emergency care. They should see their doctor, or if it is the weekend go to the Lamb Foggo and other community urgent care centres.

“For a start, when we are busy, they are taking up our time which should be focused on those who truly need emergency care. Secondly, while our average wait times are and remain generally very good, people who come in with conditions that don’t truly need emergency care will likely wait a lot longer than those who come in with life-threatening injuries and illnesses. So, if you are not that unwell, you will wait longer than the average wait times.”

Keeping patients informed has been a key focus this year. Patients in the waiting room can now see a large display includes the wait times. It also advises how many low, medium and critical care patients there are, and how many are waiting in the department for bed. A KEMH Performance Data Snapshot report is also published every month on the BHB website’s statistics page, with a day-by-day summary of wait times, admissions, outpatient appointments and surgeries.

“We hope the community is proud of its Emergency Department,” says Dr Okereke. “This team is dedicated to your care every day and we are happy we can share our data to highlight the quality of our service.”