Igor: Hospital Closed to Visitors from Sunday
Bermuda Hospitals Board today [Sept 17] announced that due to the expected impact of Hurricane Igor, its visiting hours at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital will be suspended from Sunday. A decision on when to reopen to visitors will be made following the official all-clear from the Emergency Measures Organisation (EMO).
Visiting hours usually run from 12 noon to 8pm every day, but in order to ensure all required staff are safely on-site before the storm intensifies based on current predictions, King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute expect to be going into lockdown Sunday morning.
David Hill, CEO explains: “We understand that people might consider visiting relatives in hospital before the storm arrives, but by the time visiting hours are due to start on Sunday we expect conditions to already be too dangerous for travel. We have to focus on the safety of our patients first, so expect to call required staff in for Sunday morning and go into a lockdown throughout the duration of the storm. Two rotating shifts of staff will be based at the hospital during this time to ensure services to inpatients on the four medical surgical wards, maternity, ICU, Gosling and the MWI inpatient units are maintained throughout the duration of the storm.”
Mr Hill adds: ‘We can’t give a definite re-opening time for visitors at this point as it will depend on when the EMO give the all clear. We will be working round the clock during Hurricane Igor to ensure patients in the hospitals continue to receive the care they need. We hope that everyone stays safe during and after the storm.”
We will be bringing you continous coverage of Hurricane Igor, and for our previous posts of the impending storm click here.]
