Health
Volunteers make a difference for Cancer Society
(CICS): When 25 public spirited volunteers got together to help the Cayman Islands Cancer Society, the real challenge was finding a project big enough for so many pairs of hands. This community minded collective from Deloitte ended up painting an entire building in just a day for the Cancer Society, brightening up what will become the site of the new Chemotherapy Facility for the Cayman Islands, which is an important new project between the Cancer Society and the Health Services Authority. "Our office at the Cancer Society is actually very small so we couldn't fit all of the willing individuals in our space and we had to think of something off-site for them to do," said Jennifer Weber – Operations Manager at the Cayman Islands Cancer Society.
"We asked themif they would considerpainting a whole building for us and this eager group really rose to the challenge."
Spending a full day working outside in the hot sun, the group from Deloitte tackled the task in great spirits. "Our staff and summer interns were all keen to help the Cancer Society in whichever areas they needed the most and we were entirely in their hands," said Jennifer Skinner, Human Resources Senior Manager. "For our team, painting the building together was such a great experience and a really useful bonding exercise, between our interns and their mentors,” she added.
The building in question is located on Pines Road, where the old Lighthouse School was formerly housed and will house a new state of the art Chemotherapy facility for the people of the Cayman Islands. The new Chemo Unit will be located at the Cayman Islands Hospital in an existing building formerly occupied by the old Lighthouse School, Smith Road, George Town, Grand Cayman. The project encompasses a complete renovation and fit out of 1000 sq ft of existing building.
This project is being developed by the Cayman Islands Cancer Society to serve any patient who desires to receive Chemotherapy treatment in the Cayman Islands and the Cayman Islands Cancer Society will hand the unit over to the Health Services Authority (HSA) upon completion. Going forward, the unit will fall under the auspices of the HSA, and will be operated as part of the health care facilities that are available to all visitors and residents of the Cayman Islands.
"On behalf of all our volunteers and also the HSA, I'd like to thank the group from Deloitte for their help with the painting project and for so generously donating their time and effort," Ms Weber of the Cancer Society said. "The joint project with the HSA is important because. The new Chemotherapy Unit will be an expensive project but it’s worth it because it will more than double the current Chemo unit’s capacity to provide healing treatment which will allow more patients to be treated locally, where they can recuperate surrounded by the comfort of loved ones and home. The unit will feature four infusion chairs in an open, bright, state-of-the-art space where patients will have a view of a beautiful garden to inspire feelings of hope.”
The Cayman Islands Cancer Society is funded exclusively through charitable donations and fundraising events. The mission of the Society is to increase awareness among the people of the Cayman Islands of cancer as a major health concern, to initiate positive change in all areas relating to cancer, to prevent the development of cancer and to counsel and support cancer patients and their families.
7 negative tests support containment of Chikungunya
(CNS): The running total for confirmed chikungunya virus in Cayman remains at five following the return of seven negative results from suspected cases sent for testing. Since the first suspected case in Cayman in June 26 suspected cases have been investigated but just four patients with a travel history to endemic areas and one patient who contracted the illness locally have been confirmed. Of the remaining cases sixteen were negative and one was inconclusive while four of the latest amples remain outstanding.
Although Cayman seems to have contained the disease public officials remain vigilant and the MRCU is doing what it can to keep the relevant vector down. However, the Aedes aegypti which also transmits dengue fever tends to live in urban areas and breeds in standing water in vessels rather than in the swamp. As a result the public is being urged to ensure they are not inadvertently collecting standing water in their yards and gardens by overturning or covering any pots or other vessels where water can collect.
To date, 8,285 confirmed and probable cases of chikungunya have been reported around the region. For more information on the local impact visit www.hsa.ky and for regional updates visit the CARPHA website on http://carpha.org/What-We-Do/Public-Health-Activities/Chikungunya.
Ex-health minister director at new air ambulance
(CNS): A new air-ambulance service that will be doing business with the Health Services Authority, Health City Cayman Islands, as well as Chrissie Tomlinson Memorial Hospital will be housing a Cessna Citation Ultra V jet on Grand Cayman dedicated to providing air medical services 24 hours per day, seven days per week, according to the firm, Aitheras Aviation Group. Mark Scotland, the health minister during the previous administration, is now a director of the firm, which was founded in 2005. A recent report by the auditor general had raised concerns about the management of such services, on which government spends more than three-quarters of a million dollars per year.
According to a release from Aitheras Aviation Group, its air ambulance will be based at the Island Air hanger at the Owen Roberts International Airport. Describing itself as Cayman’s first air medical provider, it has partnered with Dr Steve Tomlinson and the Chrissie Tomlinson Memorial Hospital to provide critical care transport personnel for all air medical transports. In addition to the jet on Cayman, a backup Citation is being stationed in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
A report by the auditor general published in 2013 examining how government deals with medical emergency airlift during the financial year ending June 2012 stated that there were 71 medical evacuations via the government health insurance company, CINICO, costing government US$814,623. Alistair Swarbrick had raised concerns over unlicensed operation of a ground handling service, uncertainty over medical personnel, political interference, a lack of proper public tendering and a failure to document proper procedures by the HSA, CINICO and the CIAA.
Whether or not this new service will make a difference to government costs or whether it will be focused entirely on those covered by private insurance has not been stated but in a release Scotland, who was described as being "instrumental in establishing the company" here in Cayman, said it would reduce the time it takes to get patients to the care needed.
“By having a plane based on Grand Cayman, Aitheras will significantly improve the response time for air ambulance services. We are also glad to be working with Chrissie Tomlinson Hospital to use local personnel for the medical transport,” he stated.
Aitheras Aviation Group, LLC is based in Cleveland, Ohio and has transported patients to over 38 countries. The company operates 13 aircraft specially configured for medical transports as well as executive charter. It is an on-demand aircraft operation that arranges for transports from anywhere around the world. The Aitheras call centre and crews are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to dispatch immediately available aircraft.
Mitch Stanaland is the company’s Operations Manager and he now has an office on Airport Road.
See the auditor’s report on the Management of Air Ambulance Services below.
700 patients treated at HCCI
(CNS): The Shetty hospital which has been open to patients for six months has seen over seven hundred patients come through its doors with either heart or joint issues, doctors said last week. They have now carried out more than 50 different procedures with both cardiac and orthopaedic patients. Health City Cayman Islands was originally billed as a facility that would offer affordable care to patients in North America but it has been focusing on the Caribbean region as it awaits its accreditation by the Joint Commission in the US. Officials said they expected the hospital would get the nod from the US health standards body before February next year when American patient numbers are expected to increase.
At present however, doctors said, that they are working towards creating a specialist heart clinic at the facility spearheaded by Dr Devi Shetty for the Caribbean region and are working with regional health authorities.
Speaking at a press briefing regarding the first LVAD procedure at the East End facility on Thursday the hospital’s medical director, Dr Chandy Abraham, explained that the hospital is reaching out to and in talks across the region about the facility and what service and partnerships it can offer to Caribbean health authorities.
Dr Abraham also said that 21 children in Haiti have been identified as possible patients for the free operations promised by Dr Shetty to mark the opening of the Cayman hospital. With no local kids in need and most of the regional patients having health insurance cover, the doctor explained that it was Haiti where the need was the greatest and it was hoped that the first of those young patients will be coming to the hospital in the next few weeks.
The 140 bed facility is expected to launch Cayman’s medical tourism sector and both the local investors involved in the development of the hospital and Joseph Imparato, another local developer, are expected to begin work in the coming months on hotel accommodation, as well as other facilities and amenities to support the expected growth in visiting patients and their family and friends.
The long term project is still billed as ultimately becoming a 2000 bed healthcare city which will also include a training hospital and medical college. There is hope that more young Caymanians will take up healthcare as a profession and while most of the medical staff at the Shetty hospital were brought from India as time goes on those jobs are expected to go to qualified local and regional personnel.
Ebola an unlikely threat, Chikungunya contained
(CNS): Immigration staff and health officials are on alert for and ready to deal with anyone arriving in Cayman with Ebola but the threat from the deadly haemorrhagic disease is considered low. Cayman has few visitors from the West African region and despite being an infectious disease it is spread mostly through poor hygiene practices which officials said wouldn’t be an issue here. Anyone arriving from overseas who becomes ill on a plane or at the airport is as a matter of course quickly quarantined and treated according to best practice. Meanwhile, the regional outbreak of Chikungunya which is having more of an impact locally has been contained.
As a result of the work of the MRCU and the response from the public in keeping their yards free of standing water the numbers of the Aedes aegypti, which spreads the disease, are being kept down. There have been just five confirmed cases of the disease since the first report in June in Cayman. Although the hospital has sent around two dozen blood samples from patients suspected of having chikungunya for testing four cases with a travel history to endemic countries have been confirmed positive and only one patient with no travel history appeared to have contracted the disease locally.
The health minister urged the public to remain vigilant over standing water and to cover up and wear repellent and said that the public health department would continue to release the statistics related to suspected or confirmed cases though it has now been more than a month since any new cases were identified.
See the minister’s full statement about the disease threats below
Shetty docs save man’s life
(CNS): A 49-year-old local man and his family now have plenty to lookforward after a life-saving operation at the Shetty hospital, which was also the first of its kind in the region. Despite having $1 million worth of insurance with CINICO, Albert Seymour, who was suffering from severe heart failure, was told by an American hospital that he didn’t have enough insurance to cover the costs of a transplant and effectively sent him home to die. However, with the opening of the new hospital in East End and the arrival of Dr Devi Shetty’s experienced heart surgery team, Seymour was given hope. Now just two weeks after his operation to insert an artificial heart pump he is heading home to begin his new life.
The complex and state-of-the-art surgery is a coup for the Health City Cayman Islands and has put the medical centre firmly on the cardiac specialist map with this successful specialist life-saving procedure. Seymour was fitted with a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) and the entire procedure equipment, aftercare and follow-up was estimated to be less than half a million dollars by the surgeons, supporting the claims made by the hospital’s founder, Devi Shetty, that he can cut the cost of healthcare even in the western world.
This life saving procedure is a significant alternative to a heart transplant for people suffering from serious heart disease when medicines fail. Speaking at a press conference about the operation Thursday, doctors explained the problems faced by patients who have serious heart disease.
"The challenge with heart transplants is the availability of a donor heart," said chief cardiac surgeon Dr Binoy Chattuparambil, who performed the lifesaving surgery on Seymour. The senior cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon, who has performed more than 5,000 surgeries in his career, said the waiting period is so long that most patients die before getting assistance.
"In this situation you can provide LVAD as a final choice of treatment or as a temporary measure until you get adonor heart," he explained, adding that of the numerous heart surgeries done each year in the United States, only a small percentage of LVADs are performed.
However, the operation has a high success rate and a great tool for places such as Cayman where transplants are not yet legal, and if they were, finding a compatible heart in such a small jurisdiction would prove even more challenging. In addition, almost 80 percent of LVAD patients get discharged within three to four weeks after the procedure.
"After one more month they should be able to go shopping, and two to three months after surgery, all things being equal, they should be independent," Dr Chattuparambil said.
After barely being able to breathe and forced to sleep sitting up just two short weeks ago, following the operation Seymour is now walking around unaided and climbing stairs. He now carries a battery pack when not at home to keep his artificial pump in full working order, and the doctors said that the device in Seymour’s heart will last for many years.
Dr Chattuparambil was not the only one responsible for saving Seymour’s life, as a complex procedure such as this also requires an experienced cardiothoracic surgical team, with cardiology support, high-end critical care and anaesthesiology support the doctors explained.
The team included Dr Chandy Abraham, Dr Ravi Kishore and Dr Dhruva Krishnan. Additionally, nurses and physiotherapy services are important to provide around the clock care, leading to enhanced recovery and outcomes. All this works in concert with laboratory and imaging services and supporting clinical services such as pulmonology, nephrology and psychological care.
Although the LVAD procedure has been performed at Health City's affiliate hospital in Bangalore, India, many times, it is a first for the Cayman Islands and the region. The team at the hospital said it marked thebeginning of a new specialty that aims to bring the latest advances in the management of advanced heart failure to the entire Caribbean at affordable costs.
Dr Ravi Kishore said that the processes regarding the creation of a specialist heart clinic at the HCCI was well underway and would be kicking off within one month as the team actively seek out referrals to offer state-of-the-art and technologically sophisticated treatments for heart patients. Working with regional health authorities in the Caribbean as well as the local Health Services Authority, the doctor also said that the hospital would be creating the first Caribbean register for heart disease.
Check back to CNS next week for more news from HCCI.
Parents warned not to make kids sick with lunchboxes
(CNS): Officials from the department of health are warning parents to take care when preparing their kids school meals and have issued a set of instructions to guard against making kids sick with poor food hygiene. “It is important to keep our children safe from food-borne illness by following the recommended safety guidelines,” said, DEH Food Safety Officer Gideon Simms who told parents to keep food-preparation areas clean and to wash their hands with antibacterial soap and warm water before handling food among other instructions.
See food safety guidelines below
HSA slims down by almost 80lbs in fitness challenge
(CNS): Nineteen staff members from the Health Services Authority have collectively lost 79.8 lbs, 28.5 inches in waist circumference and 12.7% of body fat following a workplace wellness programme over the last three months. The 90 day diet and fitness regime -‘Take the Challenge – Be Fit: Stay Healthy’ was about improving the health of those working in the sector and participants earned points for completing exercise logs, achieving stress management goals and accomplishing physical activity goals, as well as losing weight and lowering their body mass index (BMI). The HSA’s CEO, Lizzette Yearwood, said the positive outcome was a good reason to continue the programme.
“The success of our 2014 programme has galvanised us into ensuring we continue,” Yearwood said. “Study after study indicates that chronic non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart disease, strokes and high blood pressure can be alleviated by maintaining a healthy weight and following a healthy lifestyle. The prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases is also the focus of this year’s Cayman Islands Healthcare Conference this coming November,” she said.
“We have made it a priority to encourage our own staff to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible and to reduce their risk of developing such diseases. I congratulate our staff for committing to and finishing the programme,” the hospital boss added.
Ann-Marie Webb came in 1st in the challenge followed by Debbie Harding in 2nd while Joy Merren and Oscar Calidonio tied for 3rd.
Dr Kiran Kumar, Medical Officer of Health, said he was pleased with the results of those who managed to complete the full programme and many did so using the buddy system to keep them motivated, a key strategy for success. Praising the winners he said, they had achieved remarkable results demonstrating that with determination and will-power, a healthy weight and lifestyle can be achieved
“For the group as a whole, their good cholesterol increased, bad cholesterol decreased and their blood pressure went down following the completion of the programme, all positive indicators that they have made an improvement to their health,” he said
The participants who completed the programme saw a combined total of 79.8 lbs reduction in weight that resulted in an impressive overall reduction of 28.5 inches in waist circumference for the group and an overall 12.7% reduction in body fat.
Prizes for the 2014 Be Fit: Stay Health Workplace Wellness programme were sponsored by the following companies, all dedicated to improving health in the workplace: CUC, Vigoro Nursery, The Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort, Morritt’s Tortuga Club & Resort and Fosters Food Fair IGA. Alongside the HSA, other authorities and organisations have also followed this programme, which was spearheaded by the Public Health Department. This includes: Government Information Services, Auditor General’s Office, Shipping Registry, Maritime Authority, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Finance and Deloitte.
For more information about the programme please contact the Public Health programme coordinator Therese Prehay at 244-2632 or please visit www.hsa.ky
Health officials continue to monitor diseases
(CNS): With the continuing outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa and the regional spread of chikungunya virus medical officials and stakeholders met at the Cayman Islands hospital for the second time on Wednesday, 13 August, for a general update on issues relating to the two diseases. While Ebola poses considerably less of a threat the spread of chikungunya in the Caribbean is of concern locally but so far Cayman has contained its limited exposure to the disease. Since the first case in June just five cases have been confirmed and only one patient is suspected of contracting the disease locally.
According to the public health department 19 suspected cases have been investigated and bold samples sent for testing. Nine of those have been negative, one inconclusive and four results remain outstanding in addition to the five positive cases. Regionally there are some 7,894 cases of chikungunya with more than a half million suspected cases being reported. Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by the bite of infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, similar to dengue. Symptoms include fever, severe joint and muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.
Local health officials are remaining vigilant about the potential spread of the disease and following up on the recent meeting officials said public health experts will also be meeting with border control personnel to establish a best practice approach to ensuring the continued containment of the chikungunya virus at portsand airports. They will also discuss pro-active, preventative and protective public health measures, following a recent global advisory on Ebola. Although that disease is unlikely to prove a threat to the Cayman Islands with more than 190 nationalities living in Cayman and hundreds of thousands of visitors to our shores every day from air and sea monitoring the potential risks remains important.
Medical Officer of Health, Dr Kiran Kumar, issued an advisory on Ebola at the beginning of August following international concern over the ongoing outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The disease is a rare but a serious viral infection that affects humans and animals such as monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees.
Meanwhile, the containment of chikungunya has been assisted by the mosquito control measures and the public’s efforts to keep yards clear of standing water which is the breeding ground for the urban mosquito the Aedes aegypti which carries the disease. Health Minister, Osbourne Bodden stressed the importance of removing anything that might hold standing water from around their properties, as well as wearing protective clothing and mosquito repellent.
“I am relieved to know that protocols are in place to treat and handle any infected persons,” the minister said this week. “Should any person appear ill, I encourage all front line customer service staff to be vigilant and ask pertinent questions in a diplomatic way.”
To determine if the country you are travelling has chikungunya or Ebola, please contact the Public Health Department at 244-2648. Travellers to such countries are advised to consult a physician should they develop symptoms on return. For more information on both viruses, visit www.carpha.org or www.cdc.org
Cayman Chikungunya outbreak contained
(CNS): With no new cases reported to healthcare services in the Cayman Islands since the end of last month, public officials believe the limited outbreak of chikungunya virus here has been contained. Although a total of 16 cases have been investigated for the mosquito-borne disease since the first suspected case on 25 June, of the 14 blood results received so far only five have come back positive. While one was inconclusive, eight were negative and two blood samples sent between 5 and 11 August are still pending. Four of the five positive patients had travelled to areas where the virus has taken hold and only one person, a resident of Savannah, appeared to have acquired the disease locally.
“The total confirmed cases of chikungunya remain at five as reported on 28 July 2014. Since then there have been no new confirmed cases,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr Kiran Kumar. “The date of onset of the last confirmed case was on 22 July 2014 and the date of onset of locally acquired chikungunya was on the 11 July 2014, an indication that the outbreak is contained.”
To date, 6,924 confirmed/probable cases of chikungunya have been reported with 885 cases from 20CARPHA Member States and 6,039 cases from 11 other Caribbean countries or territories. Total suspected cases are 567,529.
Regional updates can be accessed byvisiting the CARPHA website. In addition United States updates are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For advice on how to control mosquitoes in your yard, contact the MRCU on 949-2557 in Grand Cayman or 948-2223 in Cayman Brac; and DEH on 949-6696 in Grand Cayman or 948-2321 in Cayman Brac.