BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth — Even as Black River Hospital mourns the death of a health-care worker, Chief Executive Officer Diana Brown Miller says the facility is coping as best as it can with the current surge of COVID-19 cases.

She said the facility has retrofitted four critical areas to accommodate COVID-19 patients.

“We are doing our best. It is something that is dynamic. Every day you have to [make] your adjustments where necessary, but thus far we are coping. The challenge we would have had is if our numbers should increase exponentially then you would have the challenge,” she said.

“We have already exhausted the provision we had made for isolation. There are two wards which we had retrofitted for the purpose and we have more than the allotted persons, so we have actually converted the [waiting area of the] accident and emergency department into a ward for COVID patients… and the area for patients has also been converted,” she added.

In relation to the death of a member of staff who worked in the dietary department, Brown Miller didn’t identify the deceased, but said she is believed to have been in her late 50s and had been admitted to the facility’s COVID-19 ward.

Brown Miller said counselling has been ongoing for the grieving staff, especially for the dietary department’s staff. “The news came just at the time breakfast was to be prepared, that was delayed. It delayed everything going forward,” she said.

“We had a counselling session with them… The chaplain came, the regional dietician came along as well, and we have also planned other sessions with them,” she added.

When asked if the deceased had been vaccinated against COVID-19, Miller said she was not sure.

— Kasey Williams