Earlier this week, the KHMH invited the media to celebrate its 18thanniversary. In terms of media participation, it was a disaster: only Channel 7 and the Guardian newspaper showed up. But it was a newsworthy event nonetheless as the Hospital bosses spoke candidly about the institution'ssuccesses and its challenges - including this year's epic loss - the death of eight babies due to a runaway infection in the Pediatric Intensive care Unit.
Here's what they said about tough times in the past and a possibly bright future:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
Yesterday, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital celebrated its 18th anniversary of service to the Belizean public.
The KHMH is the national referral hospital, and as such, it has come a long way in its ability to provide tertiary level care to patients. However, the hospital has inherited the legacy of a public health institution. That legacy is one which the administration accepts has been challenging, given the cultural mindset to dismiss the good work which happens there.
Dr. Francis Gary Longsworth - CEO, KHMH
"It's hard to compare the old Belize City Hospital with what we have here now, because we have gone so far ahead. We have advance so far and we are really delivering in many cases optimal tertiary level care. The culture tends to follow you, but we are now dealing with a sort of customer service orientation. We are working towards a team approach to medicine now which is different from the old model from the old hospital which was physician oriented. Everyone is important in what we do. It's not just the physician standing there alone and directing and commanding anymore."
"We are working constantly towards building our teams. KHMH is no longer a place of last resort. It's now a preferred destination for certain types of medical intervention."
However, the hospital is dealing with the fallout after bacterial outbreak within the pediatric intensive care unit, which caused mass deaths of neonatal patients.
Dr. Adrian Coye - Medical Chief of Staff, KHMH
"We have our challenges. Although we are 18 years we have our own institutional frustrations and fatigue and I think in a way it's a reflection of not just the so-called resource limitations but the demand of health has change over the years and in the last 5 years we are doing double what has been the normal of what we've done in the past. I always talk about 30,000 A and E encounters, more than 350 operations a month."
The administration says that despite this tough hit to their reputation, they still have try to meet the needs of the public.
Dr. Adrian Coye - Medical Chief of Staff, KHMH
"In recent memory of the outbreak we had in early part of this year many people will have the question: If they have close the NICU - what has happen with those babies. I am just sharing with you what we have done; the hospital administration had been able to convert an area on the Pediatric ward into a temporary NICU. We have currently almost daily 16-20 neonates being managed in this facility."
In addition to this temporary NICU, the hospital is looking to renovate the previous facility.
Dr. Francis Gary Longsworth - CEO, KHMH
"We've been very careful with the renovations because a lot of the things were not hospital grade and this is something that's a fact about Karl Heusner is that a lot of it was not built to this standard that it should have been built. When we get the opportunity like this to renovate an area we have to bring it up to hospital grade and that takes more time, effort and more money and so on."
"That space when the babies move to the new area will not be abandoned. It will still be a working space and even during the renovation we are looking at it from that point of view - we want to be able to use that renovated space and expand this space for the next 10-15 years without having to do anything to it rather utilize it. That is in the back of our minds every day as we work towards that."
The hospital expects that the new Pediatric Intensive Care Unit is to be completed 18 months from now, but while that goes to completion, the KHMH is looking to the near future.
Jules Vasquez
"As you all move into your 19 year what is to you the most exciting development or area of specialty on the horizon?"
Dr. Francis Gary Longsworth - CEO, KHMH
"Undoubtedly, telemedicine and telehealth. That's the movement worldwide. Everything is being affected by the internet - the digital revolution."
The CEO said the hospital has met 90-95% of the recommendations which PAHO made when they investigated the bacterial outbreak at the NICU.
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