The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in collaboration with the Cancer Support Services is intensifying its cancer treatment services to embrace a more patient-centered model.

On Friday during the signing of another Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two entities at the Martindale’s Road, St Michael facility, executive chairman of the QEH Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland said it was important that the hospital adjusted its approach to palliative care because of the emotional trauma and fear cancer could evoke.

She added that having a more patient-focused approach helped to create an environment where cancer patients would see that there was life beyond their diagnosis.

“Cancer evokes a tremendous amount of fear and emotional response. Some people don’t even want to call the word but what research shows and the Cancer Support Services has been able to demonstrate is that cancer diagnosis does not have to mean the end of the road. There are many people in Barbados who are living with cancer. who are coping… and meeting with others who are also going through these experiences,” she said.

“Understanding what it means to face this diagnosis has really enriched the whole arena of addressing cancer. There have been many people who have been able to live with a cancer diagnosis. What we are here doing at the hospital, we are working on the two spectrums – ensuring that we could provide treatment care and support for those who have a diagnosis . . . making sure they can live with the diagnosis and thrive.

“We are also, on the other end of things, recognising palliative care is also an important part, how we die and how we support persons as they transition is as important as how we bring them into this world.

“As an institution, we have a duty to make sure that we are providing the best quality services across the spectrum from birth through to the end of life and this is what our partnership with this organisation allows us to do.”

Director of Nursing Services Henderson Pinder said the QEH had trained about 80 medical practitioners in its palliative care enrichment programme. He made a case for the course to be conducted two or three times per year instead of once.

“Our palliative care enrichment programme has been one of the most successful ventures we have had with the Cancer Support Services. This programme enables healthcare workers – doctors, nurses and other support persons – to gain a new perspective of the care that they give.

“It gives them an opportunity to look at the care from the caregiver’s side and also from the patient’s side. It helps them to be able to see some of the sensitivities that they themselves have about cancer, about dying, about going through the process of end of life,” he said. “Medical persons who have been through this course, have reported that they have begun to be more sensitive to the needs of the patient and the families and putting them at the front of the care process.”

Bynoe-Sutherland added that the QEH has increased its provision of medical drugs and amalgamated the hematology oncology and nuclear medicine departments to allow for better synergy to attend to patients with cancer.

Executive director of Cancer Support Services Janette Lynton expressed pride at the work of both entities and said she wanted to strengthen her organisation’s relationship with the children on C7 and C8.

According to her, the doctors on those wards wanted more representatives from the Cancer Support Services to give parents with children who have been diagnosed with cancer more support. (SZB)

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Building upon the Caribbean’s innovative and successful partnership between tourism and health, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) has launched the first CARICOM (Caribbean Community)-approved health safety and environmental sanitation (HSE) hospitality standards to improve health, safety, and environmental quality in the regional hospitality sector, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The standards – which include Food Safety and Sanitation; Energy Management; Water Treatment and Management; Sewage Treatment and Management; Solid Waste Management; Integrated Pest Management; and Environmental Management Systems – were unveiled by CARPHA at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort in Tobago on Monday, November 14, with the support of senior officials of the Tobago government, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).

Dr Joy St John, CARPHA’s Executive Director, who earlier this year signed an agreement with the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) to further develop the standards, said these seven regional clean and green standards are a key component for providing assurance to travelers about company commitment to health and safety and towards avoiding or mitigating health threats to the Caribbean tourism product.

Each of the standards is equipped with an assessment checklist to easily guide the industry through a process of recognizing and achieving the standards. Upon completion, after verification by CARPHA, the company will be eligible to receive CARPHA’s Tourism Health Program (THP) Healthier, Safer Tourism Award.

“There is now a verifiable way of having the suite of standards act as a crucial tool for establishing the quality of Caribbean tourism,” Dr St John stated.

Health and tourism professionals throughout the Caribbean have placed a high priority on the well-being and health and safety of the industry’s employees and travelers. Through the intervention of a unique partnership with CTO and CHTA, established by CARPHA in 2014, the Caribbean was well positioned to respond strategically during the pandemic and now during its recovery.

In 2020 and 2021, CARPHA also trained 7,000 hospitality professionals in preventing and controlling COVID-19 in the tourism sector. This contributed to the Caribbean tourism product’s ability to rebound quickly after the end of the “lockdown” phase of the pandemic.

The standards are currently voluntary and certified properties that meet all seven standards will be eligible for a platinum distinction.

Dr Lisa Indar, CARPHA’s Director of the Surveillance Disease Prevention and Control Division – who recently facilitated THP stakeholder training in preparation for the Tobago carnival last month – was congratulated by senior officials for her leadership and commitment to the process of standards development since 2018.

Dr Faith B Yisrael, Deputy Chief Secretary and Secretary for Health, Wellness and Social Protection, Division of Health, Wellness and Social Protection, Tobago House of Assembly, congratulated CARPHA and its partners for developing the standards. She encouraged tourism stakeholders to utilize them and not leave them on shelves gathering dust: “If we pull together and if we actually follow these robust standards … we would all really truly survive whatever is to come next.”

Councillor Tashia Burris, Secretary for Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation, Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation, Tobago House of Assembly, said the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that having robust policies, standards and regulations can help save lives and livelihoods.

Neil Walters, Acting CTO Secretary General, believes the standards are another incremental step towards ensuring the future of the region’s tourism sector: “I believe we are laying the foundation for a more sustainable, world-class, regional tourism sector as this very important sector moves forward in its recovery.”

Frank Comito, Special Advisor to CHTA, which has supported the health and safety awards program from its inception, noted that the standards can uplift the tourism industry’s continued commitment to the health and safety of its employees and visitors, “which can help us to deliver our promise to the world and there is no better place for mental, physical and spiritual well-being than in the Caribbean.” (PR)

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Some Barbados Community College (BCC) students struggled to cope in the online learning environment during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and had to seek help for mental health issues.

That disclosure came from principal Annette Alleyne who said that when most classes were conducted online due to COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, the BCC management had received increased reports from the institution’s Counselling and Placement Centre about students with mental health challenges.

She said it was also noted in BCC Registrar Roger Worrell’s report that the number of students requesting extended studies had doubled between 2020 and 2021.

“It was unusual. A large number of students were asking for extended studies – another year and another semester – because some of them chose to defer from various programmes. In some instances where we had students doing clinicals, they couldn’t get into the sites to do their clinicals. But in a number of cases, the students had chosen to defer some of their programmes,” Alleyne said at BCC’s Convocation Ceremony.

“And then when students did their portfolio for the visual arts and so on, a number of . . . their pieces showed the struggle some of them had with anxiety, with loneliness, depression, etc. So we knew that it was a concern for the students during the online period and that is why we have made such a great push to have students come back face-to-face.”

She added that the Students Guild had also hosted a Mental Health Week focused on issues affecting the student body.

“[They] had various initiatives and activities that could help to alleviate some of the stressors that they were experiencing,” Alleyne explained.

The principal highlighted research conducted in the United States which indicated that students who experienced mental health challenges during the pandemic appeared to be ‘quiet quitting’ – that is, doing just enough to complete their studies and not going the extra mile.

However, Alleyne cautioned the new students that the “just enough and no more” attitude had serious repercussions in an extremely competitive world, as she told them that those who gave more were the ones who excelled and succeeded.

“If you are struggling with depression, anxiety, loneliness, there is help, ask for help. Join a club, form a study group, reach out to our Counselling and Placement Centre; there is help. If you are struggling with mental health challenges, do not be one of the one-third of college students who are quiet quitting,” she said.

The BCC principal also put the newcomers on notice that the excitement and euphoria they felt at the start of their college journey would eventually fade and they might begin to feel exhausted and even question why they were there.

“And it is at these times when you need your community, a friend, a study group, someone to be able to give a word of encouragement. And our theme for this year, One Community, Working Together, Achieving Together, becomes even more appropriate.

“Life will throw things at you – a pandemic, an ashfall, a hurricane, some weird weather patterns where roofs get blown off and so on, the unexpected loss of a friend or loved one, betrayal, these things happen in life. But what it is that will keep you going and keep you firm in the face of any of these adversaries will be your sense of purpose and what it is that you want to achieve,” Alleyne said. (AH)

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Speaking on Starcom’s Down To Brass Tacks call-in radio programme on Friday, Gooding-Edghill said he has met with the hospital’s senior leadership team along with the Minister of State responsible for QEH affairs Dr Sonia Browne, to review an Accident and Emergency Improvement Plan.

“What we will need though, is some additional resources and we are working on those resources. I have a follow-up meeting with the A&E leadership team and that will happen very shortly. But we have to remove some of the administrative functions and burdens from the doctors to allow the doctors in A&E to focus exclusively on [clinical duties],” he said.

“There are instances sometimes where a doctor may have to go and fetch information, a doctor may have to go and source some additional medical resources in order to execute and perform a task. That’s what I meant by some of the administrative stuff,” the Health Minister explained.

He told his radio audience that authorities are trying to work through that and are fine-tuning the improvement plan.

“Once we do that, we would also be in a better position … to give them some additional resources. For example, in terms of how you run and manage an ER. One of the things I think we will have to look at is the whole management of the ER itself and how that is administered. If you can take away some of those non-critical functions from doctors and have personnel focusing on those other areas, it would free up some of the time available for the doctors to do what they have to do,” Gooding-Edghill suggested.

He said when he reviewed the plan, it was exciting even as he engaged with the team.

“We have a plan to address minor cases that present to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. I have indicated before that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital is a place for reassurance. In my experience there, when people are feeling unwell, they go to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for immediate treatment. They go to the A&E for example, as the first stop, because if they can’t afford to go to a private care facility, they would come to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and that is where they have the best treatment, and they know the best treatment would be given to them,” the Health Minister contended.

He noted that even though A&E is an emergency facility, a patient with pain in some part of their body is not concerned about whether it’s urgent, they just want care and therefore go to the QEH.

“So therefore what we have to do, is to implement within the Accident and Emergency Department, a Minor Cases Unit, which would allow for example, patients to be fast-tracked based on the urgency of the cases they present and also that they present to the A&E department,” he announced.

“The Minor Cases Unit will also be suitable for patients. For example, if there is an injury that may require some resources from the hospital, of course they would go to the hospital. If there are other injuries for example, that are non-life or limb-threatening injuries, then obviously, the Minor Cases Unit can deal with those,” the Minister said.

Gooding-Edghill provided data to show the level of traffic that continues to pass through the A&E.

“The Accident and Emergency Department in 2019 registered 37,660 patient visits, 46 per cent of those patients that visited in 2019, accounted for hospital admissions. The remainder obviously were dealt with and discharged. Now in 2020, interestingly enough and obviously because of COVID and so on, there was a reduction. 29,667 patients would have visited the Accident and Emergency, and 49 per cent of the total were admitted. So, those statistics alone tell me very clearly that not every visit to the A&E would require hospitalisation,” the Minister of Health said.

“The issue here for Barbadians is the time that they have to spend waiting in A&E. And if we continue to improve the processes, I think that we will definitely see some improvement,” he said.

He also said that a Patient Relations Service, which is at the pilot stage, is currently in operation at A&E and on some wards, but will be expanded across the hospital in due course.

Gooding-Edghill also announced that the hospital would soon be measuring patient satisfaction based on a structured feedback system. He said too that having completed phases one and two of the A&E expansion project, the third phase is currently in the works. (EJ)

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Government is willing to do all in its power to ensure that Barbadians have access to pharmaceuticals and medical services at an affordable cost to control the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases on the island.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley, speaking during Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a $12 million, 24-hour, urgent care centre at Bayview Hospital expressed the hope that a sensible solution could be reached without going the route of price controls.

She stated: “This government is prepared to take action now to protect us and our consumers in the area of medical services because we believe that it is not only the supermarket or it is not only at the gas station that we seek to control prices, but also in the delivery of services across the entire spectrum.”

“I say so, conscious that as I have met with the private sector to deal with food costs and to ask them to cap their mark-ups between 15 and 20 per cent that regrettably in the area of pharmaceuticals, we continue to face markups in this country that are prohibitive and unacceptable especially in this environment within which we are functioning.”

The Prime Minister pointed out that industry stakeholders also had a duty to ensure that they don’t price themselves “out of people’s reach especially at this particular time” noting that she hoped that the sense of volunteerism that characterised the social partnership and the “way we do things,” would also guide this process.

Mottley said that the social cost of keeping the prices as they are currently, is a situation that should not continue, given the challenges with the high prevalence of non-communicable diseases.

The Prime Minister maintained that citizens must not stay at home instead of seeking medical care on account of the high costs involved. Mottley also shared that ongoing work with the World Health Organization to map out an affordable national health insurance scheme would continue with a decision expected sometime next year.

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Stakeholders are taking steps to remove unhealthy food options from the school canteens.

Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw said with the new School Nutrition Policy approved by Cabinet, they are going all out to ensure that local but healthy foods will be used to feed the nation’s youth.

“I recommend that we rely on foods that are grown locally and regionally in the preparation of lunches and snacks for our school-aged children. We need to think about how we can prepare local foods such as breadfruit, potatoes, eddoes, yams and green bananas so that they become the foods of choice for our young people,” the Chief Education officer said.

She was speaking at a virtual Vendors Training Session put on by the Childhood Obesity Prevention Programme of the Heart & Stroke Foundation, on Saturday.

“It is true that our children are generally not accustomed to these foods so we have to think about strategies and dishes that are prepared with these ground provisions that are attractive and tasty. Rather than the pasta and the English potato dishes with which they are very comfortable,” she said.

Archer-Bradshaw also raised the issue of high salt, fat and sugar intake, which she said can lead to children being overweight and be the main cause of cardiovascular diseases.

Chairman of the Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition Dr Kia Lewis opened her presentation by asking,”Are we setting our children up for success?”

“I want to say that the decisions that we are making for our children now is going to affect their health in adulthood and collectively it is going to affect the future health of our nation,” she pointed out.

“The health decisions that we are teaching our children in their formative years, that often lay the foundation for the health and practices that they are going to continue into adulthood and they are going to pass it onto their children.This is very much generational,” Dr Lewis said.

In May 2022, the Cabinet of Barbados approved the School Nutrition Policy and the Ministry of Education will be implementing strategies in the new school year to make the school environment a healthier one. (MR)

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SOURCE: AP — The World Health Organization says it’s holding an open forum to rename the disease monkeypox, after some critics raised concerns the name could be derogatory or have racist connotations.

In a statement Friday, the UN health agency said it has also renamed two families, or clades, of the virus, using Roman numerals instead of geographic areas, to avoid stigmatisation. The version of the disease formerly known as the Congo Basin will now be known as Clade one or I and the West Africa clade will be known as Clade two or II.

WHO said the decision was made following a meeting of scientists this week and in line with current best practices for naming diseases, which aims to “avoid causing offense to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional, or ethnic groups, and minimize any negative impact on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare.”

Numerous other diseases, including Japanese encephalitis, Marburg virus, Spanish influenza and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome have been named after the geographic areas where they first arose or were identified. WHO has not publicly suggested changing any of those names.

Monkeypox was first named in 1958 when research monkeys in Denmark were observed to have a “pox-like” disease, although they are not thought to be the animal reservoir.

WHO said it was also opening a way for the public to suggest new names for monkeypox, but did not say when any new name would be announced.

To date, there have been more than 31,000 cases of monkeypox identified globally since May, with the majority of those beyond Africa. Monkeypox has been endemic in parts of central and west Africa for decades and was not known to trigger large outbreaks beyond the continent until May.

WHO declared the global spread of monkeypox to be an international emergency in July and the US declared its own epidemic to be a national emergency earlier this month.

Outside of Africa, 98 percent of cases are in men who have sex with men. With only a limited global supply of vaccines, authorities are racing to stop monkeypox before it becomes entrenched as a new disease.

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Barbados’ only confirmed case of Monkeypox, a Barbadian man in his twenties, has fully recovered, the Ministry of Health and Wellness said on Monday.

The ministry also disclosed that there have not been any associated cases with this index case which was reported three weeks ago.     

In a statement on July 16,  Minister of Health and Wellness Ian Gooding-Edghill said the man, who had travelled, had sought medical attention at the Winston Scott Polyclinic with symptoms of a progressive rash, body pains and fever within hours of his arrival in Barbados.

The Ministry advised persons who have a travel history and who are experiencing any unexplained rash, swelling of the lymph nodes or who have been in contact with persons with a rash to seek medical attention at their nearest polyclinic.

The ministry disclosed surveillance at the ports of entry has been enhanced as it continues to be on alert for Monkeypox. 

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Chief Medical Officer, Dr. The Most Honourable Kenneth George, is informing the public that Pfizer BioNTech, authorised by the Food and Drug Administration, has extended the recommended expiration dates of COVID-19 Vaccines from nine months to one year from the date of manufacture.

This means that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines available in Barbados with the manufacture date of November 2021 have a 12-month shelf life until October 31,

2022.

The Chief Medical Officer assures the public that the Pfizer COVID Vaccines administered remain safe and effective and still offer an opportunity for controlling the spread of COVID-19.  He states that the Pfizer vaccines for COVID-19 will therefore continue to be available until the end of October 2022.  The Ministry of Health and Wellness will continue to source COVID-19 vaccines on the open market.

The supporting documentation regarding this change in expiry date is entitled “Expiry Information for All Three Vaccine Presentations” and published on April 26, 2022.  It may be found at https://www.cvdvaccine-us.com/images/pdf/Expiry_Doc.pdf.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness, in the best interest of the public, will continue to provide updates on important matters particularly as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Assistant Director-General for Emergencies, Dr Ibrahima Soce Fall, says countries need to work more together to stop the rapidly spreading outbreak of Monkeypox, “no matter the nationality, skin colour or religion of the affected population”.

“We have been working on Monkeypox in Africa for several years, but nobody was interested.

“What is unfortunately called a ‘neglected tropical diseases.’ We worked a lot on that with very few resources and only when the northern countries became affected by this disease the world reacted. It was the same with the Zika virus and we have to stop this discrimination.”

On July 23, the WHO declared the spread of the virus to be a public health emergency of international concern – the organisation’s highest level of alert. Through this, WHO aims to enhance coordination, cooperation of countries and all stakeholders, as well as global solidarity.

According to Dr Fall, “the world must be involved to protect these populations, no matter their nationality, their skin colour, or their religion, etc. I think it is extremely important and now that more than 70 countries are affected in the world, everyone is getting active”.

Until this year, the virus which causes Monkeypox rarely spread outside Africa where it is endemic. But reports of a handful of cases in Britain in early May signalled that the outbreak had moved into Europe.

“It is important, and we have already been doing so, to accelerate the research and development agenda on Monkeypox so that the most affected African countries can have the resources to prevent and fight against Monkeypox,” said Dr Fall.

A vaccine was approved in 2019 for the prevention of Monkeypox, however availability remains limited at the moment.

“We have had many cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroon, and some sporadic cases in countries such as Ghana, Benin, etcetera,” Dr Fall said.

“I think it is time that the world invests so that these populations that are living in rural areas and in forest areas, can be protected.

” . . . If we only treat what is happening in Europe and America, we will only treat the symptoms of Monkeypox, but not the real disease. It is important that the world gets mobilised to this kind of disease.”

SOURCE: UNifeed

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