pmh

Ann Marie Davis on Friday, mourned the death of Kenise Darville, the woman who died days after lamenting her treatment as a patient at the Princess Margaret Hospital.

In a short Facebook post, the wife of Prime Minister Philip Davis expressed shock at the woman’s death.

“Jerad, I am so shocked to hear of Kenise’s passing. I didn’t know she was ill…I’m lost for words.”

Kenise, the wife of Jerad who was a former PLP aspirant for the Pinewood Gardens Constituency, died on Thursday after streaming a live video, venting her frustrations with the country’s primary hospital. She complained that doctors did not treat her condition of low blood platelets as an emergency, as she asked for people to donate blood to her cause.

Davis remembered her as “so young and driven.”

“ I pray you find the faith and strength to deal with this great loss. May she rest in peace among the angels,” Davis said.

Jerad held a press conference on Friday after her death, lamenting the hospital’s neglect in the matter. In a social media post on Saturday, he said “Don’t worry though baby, your cry was heard and the cries of our children shall not be in vain.”

When reporters asked if he plans to take legal action, Jerad responded, “Legal action doesn’t fix the system, right? We have to fix the system for people.”

Kenise leaves behind three boys.

Health Minister Michael Darville promised an investigation into the matter.

Just days after decrying her stay at the Princess Margaret Hospital, a woman died from health complications.

Kenise Darville took to social media last week Wednesday in a more than 20-minute live stream video where she condemned PMH for its quality of healthcare.

The video went viral and blood donations were made to get her back to good health. She was said to be doing well since Tuesday when her husband Jerad posted to social media, “Because of your support we now have the best doctors tending to her. She is in special care and has improved tremendously in her spirits.”

Kenise’s passionate video showed her with tears streaming down her cheeks as she cried, “It [inadequate care] needs to stop. They [hospital staff members] are reckless, nonchalant, no empathy.”

Though details are limited as to the sickness she suffered and how she died, Kenise said she suffered from back pain which prompted her to check into the hospital at 3 am on January 2^nd. Showing blood bruises on her hands, she complained that her blood count was low which doctors confirmed was at 20,000. This prevented her blood from clotting.

Kenise anticipated that doctors would order more platelets as promised but said they later returned on the eleventh suggesting that she seek blood donation from family and friends. At this time, her blood count was at seven thousand.

“These people doing a whole bunch of foolishness,” she said angrily. No hospital is supposed to run like this. PMH needs to be exposed.”

Kenise said had she known earlier, she could have asked family for blood donations a lot sooner.

“They didn’t see the urgency in that. They sit by and let all these days pass. No doctor came to see me on Friday. The weekend is hell. It’s worst on holidays.”

She was soon prompted to stop the ranting and recording by a nurse who stopped by her room where she lay in isolation.

“Miss, at this point, some people just have to go down for a cause and this a course I’m ready to go down for,” she said.

“When will you’ll start caring for people inside this hospital?” she asked the nurse.

The mother of three boys who was also the owner of a creative shop said her mother died weeks earlier and was buried three days prior to her admittance to the hospital.

And though she knew the bad experiences at the medical center, she had no medical insurance to receive private care at Doctor’s Hospital.

“No hospital suppose to run like this. PMH needs to be exposed.

“They [doctors] don’t read your notes and ask what you in here for. It’s ridiculous.

“This entire system just needs to change.”

Two families of deceased COVID-19 health care workers were granted payments today, following recent ‘sickouts’ across healthcare institutions over the disbursements of honorarium payouts.

The families of Nurse Sherrilyn Charlton-Bain and Custodian Marion Burrows-McKinney were presented with cheques, totaling $100,000.

Carlton-Bain and Burrows-McKinney died during the first wave of the pandemic. Charlton-Bain, deployed to the Prison Health Services, passed on October 10 and Burrows-McKinney, deployed at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) died on September 29.

The big story

At the height of the pandemic, the government agreed to provide a $5,000 honorarium to those frontline workers who provided care to COVID-19 patients from the onset of COVID, and a $100,000 life insurance policy if workers experience untimely death while serving.

It was an effort to provide a cadre of healthcare workers during the period March 19–June 18, 2020.

Why it matters

For the past week, healthcare workers in New Providence and Grand Bahama abandoned services and ‘called in sick’ over COVID-19 honorarium payouts. Some health workers said they were frustrated that they were left out of the disbursements of monies, but Minister of Health Renward Wells maintained that the payout was not intended for everyone as some workers did not meet the criteria as established by the Cabinet for payment of the honorarium.

What Wells said today

Wells stated that these challenging times have highlighted the important roles healthcare and frontline workers play.

Wells added, “The government instituted a death benefit to healthcare workers for a limited time to those who may have potentially lost their lives from COVID-19.”

He explained that both healthcare workers qualified for that death benefit, and now the government can pass on what was held in trust for both of them to their families.

“To the family members of Nurse Sherrilyn Charlton-Bain and Mrs. Marion Burrows-McKinney, we know that no monetary value can replace the life of your mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt or friend.  However, it is hoped that it will provide for a time the necessary funding that would have ordinarily been supplemented by your loved ones’ income.”

Sandilands Rehabilitation Center confirms a woman took her life at the health facility.  The suicide remains under investigation.

What is known

• The woman is 52-years old.
• She was a patient at SRC.
• She attempted suicide on Sunday 8th.
• She was transported to the Princess Margaret Hospital by ambulance.
• The woman was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

What is unknown

• The identity of the woman has not been released.
• A motive is unknown
• Authorities have not revealed how she was discovered, neither the means by which she ended her life.

COVID-19 cases are rising all over Eleuthera and health officials are worried. The island has a reported 116 cases, of which 5 were confirmed on Thursday.

Why it matters?

The island was one of few islands with a small number of cases but infections jumped in recent weeks in North, South, and Central Eleuthera.

What’s happening

• Almost 80% of cases were among those 50-years-old and younger. The greatest proportion is among individuals of 20-39 years.
• South Eleuthera has the greatest proportion of cases–37. 8%
• North Eleuthera is a close second with 29.7%.
• Central Eleuthera has 24.3 percent of the cases.
• Local bars are popular hangout spots and a number of cases are linked to island bars.
• The current increases were also linked to a funeral, which occurred two weeks ago, some of which were attended by individuals from Freeport, Grand Bahama.
• Health officials observed that there is minimal to no adherence to public health measures, even though are aware of the protocols.
• Housing arrangements challenge the appropriate isolation and quarantine measures.

Recommendations

• Implement increased restrictions
• The stronger presence of COVID-19 ambassadors for compliance
• Close bars

Featured Image: Google

The sobering comment by Former Health Minister Duane Sands has set off a public debate mixed with fury and uncertainty.

Sands on a local radio station, Guardian Radio, “The Hitback,” with Nahaja Black, said the heightened case of coronavirus in the country has placed doctors in a position to decide who lives and who dies.

The earnest reality of the pandemic has caused doctors to place patients with other life-threatening diseases like heart disease and cancer on the back burner, causing some to die.

With a high degree of certainty, the former minister said, “I understand the implications of my comment…that is happening now.”

Other countries have done the same

Physicians in the United States of America, Canada, and Italy have already been forced to make such moral decisions.

These countries have larger populations and the unexpected wave of the virus has filled their hospitals beyond capacity. Back in early March, Italy’s health system said there were too many patients for each one to receive adequate care. So, the Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care (SIAARTI)  published guidelines that doctors should follow as cases worsen.

These patients should be left to die as they place demands on scarce medical resources, according to the document written by a group of medical doctors.

• Patients that are old
• Patients with comorbidities
• Patients who require intensive care

They are guided by the utilitarian approach which stresses the principle, “the greatest good for the largest number,” which would ensure that patients with the highest chance of survival will access intensive care.

Doctors in the Bahamas are reaching that point

When health facilities are full to capacity, physicians are placed in a position where they are unable to manage and provide care for a patient who may need respiratory assistance.

Dr. Nikkiah Forbes, director of the Infectious Disease Programme said she has not personally seen a patient die because of the ability to provide care, but the country is close.

“If we continue beyond capacity, those difficult decisions may have to be made,” she said.

Health workers confirmed that the Bahamas is in a surge and the system is being pushed beyond capacity, emphasizing that the ability to provide care in that environment is challenging.

Nearly twenty people assembled near the front of the Princess Margaret Hospital demanding better treatment and a new facility for patients.

The group gathered, shouting, “Our Lives Matter” with group leaders Kendle Colebrook and Attorney Maria Daxon. They decried the recent deaths of pregnant mothers and newborn babies.

Wearing t-shirts that read, ‘Enough,’ Colebrooke said, “The babies that died in there are our children. They are us, they are us.”

Daxon said, “We came to support the women who died and lost their babies…How many other women are going to die before you spend the taxpayers’ money on a new hospital.”

One woman said as her niece gives birth in a few weeks, she has warned her not to go to PMH.

“I tell her to go private. They killing people in here. You going in here normal, and when you come out, you coming out as COVID.”

The police called to the scene, stood nearby as the small group voiced their concerns.

The group said they lay the blame at the feet of Prime Minister Hubert Minnis and Health Minister Renward Wells.

This comes after a young mother Kayla Edwards-Dean said she was ignored in the hospital and gave birth to twin boys, later learning that the twins died after delivery.

36-year-old Zennrine Ramdas died of womb infection last week, after giving birth to a baby girl in August.

And 20-year-old Shakinah Dean, a confirmed COVID-19 case, died last month after giving birth to a baby boy. Her mom said she did not receive adequate care and was left unattended.

Addressing media on Tuesday morning outside of Cabinet, Wells said he feels a sense of empathy for the mothers.

“Hearing the kind of things that we are hearing in regards to the loss of life, it doesn’t sit well with them, it certainly doesn’t sit well with me and we’re going to do all we can to continue to preserve the life of the Bahamian people.”

Wells said the Public Hospitals Authority is investigating the matter, although no official complaint has been made.

“We have not received any direct complaints, written complaints but the ministry is looking into it,” he said.

The group promised to assemble again on Wednesday.

The long standing problem of boarders at the Princess Margaret Hospital is impeding the health facility’s capacity to house individuals infected with the deadly virus.

Speaking on the issue at the Ministry of Health’s COVID Update, Minister of Health Renward Wells said the issue of boarders is affecting the health system and its handling of COVID-19.

“It cannot be right for all ill patients to lose their lives because they cannot access proper facilities at the hospital,” he said

“Our health professionals are hard pressed to find places to care for very ill people. We need those beds,” Wells continued.

He determined that there are 33 boarders at the Princess Margaret Hospital, some, he says, have been discharged for many years, but family members have not taken them home.

In recent days, health officials decried the lack of beds at the facility as the COVID-19 numbers continually climb. Officials say improving health infrastructure to accommodate the cases and ensuring the most efficient use of beds are most critical.

He then made an impassioned plea to family members of the boarders, “Please, please, help us to help you.”

Wells added that to prevent the collapse of the healthcare system, government has instituted lockdowns to establish social distancing protocols to delay the spread, to reduce the number of people getting sick at the same time and allow for more time to improve the capacity to fight the virus.

COVID-19 cases have climbed to 830, with 69 new cases. 719 COVID-19 cases are active cases and 30 are hospitalized.

Wells warned that the country should brace for more COVID-19 deaths.

Former Minister of Health Duane Sands addressed the issue of boarders before his resignation during the pandemic.

At the time, Sands said his ministry was looking into using nursing homes to accomodate the boarders at PMH, as the situation burdened public finances, exacerbating bed shortage at the facility.

He said it costs several million dollars to care for 31 boarders, at the time.

Health officials would not confirm or deny that it closed three wards at the Princess Margaret Hospital due to 50 persons being exposed to COVID-19. Neither did they respond to concerns that a patient on the maternity ward tested positive for the virus.

When pressed by reporters at the COVID-19 update conference, PMH Chief Hospital Administrator Mary Walker said the facility has conducted “an aggressive reconfiguration of wards across its three institutions,” namely the Princess Margaret Hospital, the Rand Memorial Hospital, and the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre.

Walker said the reconfiguration occurred because of an increase in the number of staff and persons coming to the hospital testing positive for COVID-19, which she said placed a strain on the bed capacity at the facility.

Walker added that “every effort is being made to ensure that no COVID-19 positive patients are housed or treated at the main campuses of our hospitals.

On Wednesday, the Nassau Guardian reported that three wards including Male Surgial Ward and the Female Medical Ward were not admitting new patients, as nearly 50 patients were exposed to the virus.

It further claimed that an elderly woman in the Female Medical Ward tested positive for the virus over the weekend, as a patient in another ward was exposed to the virus by a healthcare worker.

Minister of Health Renward Wells vaguely addressed the reconfiguration of wards stating only that it “is geared toward better managing patient admissions subject to their medical needs and gender.”

Wells noted that the current exposure of employees and patients across the nation’s hospitals is being managed, subject to international Infection Prevention Control guidelines for infectious outbreaks of this kind and the policies of PHA. He said every effort is being made to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within the institutions.

Wells said that the Pubic Hospital Authority has increased the distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for staff working across hospitals to ensure the safety and protection of valued employees.

Members of the public were asked to contact their personal physicians or local community clinics during the day for non-emergencies, and only access the Accident & Emergency Department in the event of an actual emergency or after-hour services.

Ambulance Services are limited to emergencies only.

It is not known how many health care workers are currently affected with the virus, but in April, nearly 200 workers were quarantined for exposure to COVID-19.