BHB Public Advisory: Temporary closure of BHB hyperbaric chamber
Wednesday 31 August 2022: Due to unforeseen circumstances Bermuda Hospitals Board’s hyperbaric chamber will close on Friday 2 September and reopen on Monday 19 September.
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KEMH creates more isolation rooms
Monday 13 April 2020: Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) today announces the addition of nine more negative pressure rooms at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH). Four additional rooms in the Emergency Department, two operating rooms, two rooms on the Post Anesthesia Care Unit and one additional room on the Dialysis Unit have been converted to negative pressure/isolation rooms.
These nine rooms are in addition to the 28 converted on the Ace Barber Unit, announced last week. (The 28 conversions brought the total negative pressure rooms on the unit to 30, i.e. every room on the unit.)
Creating negative pressure within a room results in the air being confined to that room. This greatly reduces the ability of infection to spread.
The Acute Care Wing opened in 2014 with two negative pressure rooms on each of the three wards and 15 in the Emergency Department. Patients who present or develop infectious conditions in the hospital are routinely housed in isolation rooms.
Black & McDonald, facility manager of the Acute Care Wing (ACW), were able to increase the number of negative pressure rooms through the ACW’s automated building management system.
“We are doing everything we can to help BHB prepare for this pandemic,” said the Black & McDonald Facility Manger for the Acute Care Wing, Warren Moulaison. “Our team of engineers, just like everyone at BHB, is committed to doing our best to serve our Bermuda community.”
“Increasing the number of isolation rooms in the Emergency Department will help us better stem the spread of COVID-19 within the hospital,” said BHB Chief of Emergency and Hyperbarics Chikezie Dean Okereke, MD.
“We are pleased with the progress of our pandemic plan,” said BHB CEO and President Venetta Symonds. “I thank the dedication of staff across our organisation, from the Facilities Departments who expand our negative pressure room capabilities, to our frontline clinical staff, dietary and environmental services staff, our partners in security services and our administrative staff – all of us are working to care for and keep our patients and employees safe.”
BHB and partners make COVID-19 self-assessment tool available to all
Wednesday 1 April 2020: Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) Emergency Department, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, the Chief Medical Officer and the island’s primary care providers, has created an easy-to-follow one-page self-assessment guide for members of the community who are concerned they may be infected with COVID-19.
The COVID-19 Patient Symptom Check List and Self-Assessment assigns a score from 1-3 to each COVID-19 symptom. Mild symptoms have low scores while severe symptoms carry a score of 3. Persons tally their scores to determine if they need to call their physician.
“We developed the COVID-19 self-assessment as tool to better manage the needs of our community,” said Chikezie Dean Okereke, MD, BHB Chief Emergency and Hyperbaric Services.
“Providing the public with a guide that eliminates the guesswork on what to do and when to take action, can be instrumental in saving lives and keeping the public informed.”
The checklist is available for download below and from the Resource Material section on the Government website www.gov.bm/coronavirus.
COVID-19 Patient Symptom Self-Assessment – Updated 2 October 2020
A YouTube video explaining the Covid-19 Patient Symptom Checklist Self-Assessment is also available below.