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BHB Traffic Advisory: KEMH main entrance closed on Saturday

Wednesday 18 October 2023: King Edward VII Memorial Hospital’s main Point Finger Road entrance will close on Saturday 21 October to enable minor excavation works. The Point Finger Road entrance to the hospital’s staff parking area (located near Berry Hill Road) should be used.

Personnel will be at the scene to advise drivers. Please follow their directions.

Weather conditions may see the closure extended to Sunday 22 October.

Below is a map of the traffic plan.

Traffic Plan 21Oct2023

18 October 2023 Home Page, News

BHB COVID-19 Remembrance Tree

Thursday 9 December 2021: Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) this season has dedicated its Christmas tree to remember those we have lost to COVID-19.

“The tree has pride of place in the main lobby of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH),” said BHB CEO Michael Richmond. “This year we felt it was fitting for our tree to help heal and comfort our staff who have lost loved ones and patients, and the family and friends of the 106 persons who Bermuda has lost to the disease.”

Interested members of the public can request a pre-cut ornament from BHB and decorate it in memory of a family member or loved one who they lost to the disease. When completed, decorated ornaments should be returned to KEMH to be hung on the COVID-19 Remembrance Tree.

“Many in our community are still grieving the loss of loved ones to this disease,” said BHB Acting Chief of Psychiatry Anna Neilson-Williams. “Taking time to remember the person and simple acts such as  writing a note are mechanisms that can help people heal emotionally.

“Our staff are human and they too have felt the toll of loss some in their families and many as they cared for their patients. Due to necessary visiting restrictions, in several instances they, and not the next of kin, were at the patient bedside until the end. Oftentimes even more difficult for our staff was having to console the next of kin who could not be present. We also recognise the large number of staff from overseas, who have worked tirelessly over the pandemic, many of whom have also suffered losses, and this complex cumulative aspect can take its toll.”

BHB has staff from well over 50 different countries. India is one of those, which was hit particularly hard by the virus. Some of our staff lost family in that wave. The COVID-19 Remembrance Tree is a way they can also find some solace.

The tree will have 106 silver baubles in honour of each life lost to COVID-19 in Bermuda, and 54 gold baubles representing all the countries BHB staff are from. Each gold ornament symbolises the friends and family our staff members lost to COVID-19 in their home countries.

Due to privacy laws and patient confidentiality, next of kin of those who passed due to COVID-19 have not been contacted directly by BHB to submit an ornament. We encourage everyone who learns about the COVID-19 Remembrance Tree to share the news widely.

If you want to collect an ornament, please contact cathy.stovell@bhb.bm for details on when they will be available. Unfortunately, in order to comply with privacy laws, no names or photos will be allowed in the ornament decorations.

9 December 2021 Home Page, News

BHB turns on green light for mental health awareness

Tuesday 30 November 2021: Bermuda Hospitals Board will again turn on its green light next month in support of mental health awareness. Green is the colour chosen internationally to denote mental health. This year the theme of mental health awareness is to make nature a part of your everyday life.

For us in Bermuda, getting out in nature almost always involves getting out into greenery. Even if you take a leisurely walk along the beach you’ll be faced with wonderful green trees and grasses.

On Wednesday 1 December, Preston Swan, Acting Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Clinical Operations at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute (MWI), will flick the switch at sister hospital King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH), lighting the outside of that facility green.

“COVID-19 has brought the importance of mental health to the fore,” said Mr Swan. “All of us who live in Bermuda recognise the increased stress and anxiety many of us have endured. As a mental health professional, I would urge you to spend some time in nature. It is scientifically proven to have a calming effect on the mind. When you add relaxed deep breathing, you may actually feel an improvement in your stress level and blood pressure.”

“As you pass by KEMH in the December night, please enjoy the green light. Green is a calming colour. Take stock of your mental health and think positive thoughts,” Mr Swan added.

“If you are feeling overwhelmed please reach out to a professional who can help – seeking support is not a sign of weakness,” said BHB Acting Chief of Psychiatry Dr Anna Neilson-Williams. “You are not alone. We encourage you to contact MWI, your GP or one of the range of mental health professionals available within our community.”

If you need mental health assistance, please call the MWI Acute Community Health Service at 249-3432. For serious mental health crises at any time of the day or night, call 239-1111.

30 November 2021 Home Page, News

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.”

13 April 2020 Home Page, News

Celebrating Bermuda’s “50 Club” Blood Donors

17 May 2018: Bermuda Hospitals Board today thanks Peter Barrett for his kind donation of a plaque that lists the names of current Bermuda donors who have made 50 or more blood or apheresis donations. The plaque donation is in honour of his father, Leslie Barrett.

Installed in the entry hallway of the Bermuda Blood Donor Centre on the first floor of the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, the plaque lists over 100 names. There is a lot of space for future names, so people are also being encouraged to start and keep giving regularly.

Lucy Correia, Blood Donor Centre Nurse Phlebotomist, comments: “We are very grateful to Peter Barrett for the gift in honour of his father and excited to be able to recognize the people in Bermuda who have achieved 50 or more blood or apheresis donations. Only our most dedicated donors reach this target and we hope more will be encouraged to do so.  If someone donated blood every two months (the minimum time between donations), it would takes over eight years to reach 50 donations! It is a real commitment to caring for the community.”

Dr Eyitayo Fakunle,  Consultant  Haematologist, adds: “It is wonderful to honour the people in our community who regularly donate blood to save lives and treat challenging conditions like cancer and sickle cell anaemia.  As each pint of donated blood can help up to three people, each donor on this plaque could have each helped up to 150 people in Bermuda.  That’s a wonderful legacy and we hope more people are encouraged to get their name on the 50 Donations plaque. If you haven’t donated in a while, or are building up courage to come for the first time, we would love to hear from you at 236-5067, or blooddonor@bhb.bm.”

Pictured above are members of ‘The 50 Club’, Betsie Blooddrop (left) and Mr Peter Barrett (holding the plaque on the right).

17 May 2018 Home Page, News