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.”

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