The management of St. Elizabeth Hospital engaged the Asutifi South District office of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to train and educate staff on emergency response to fire outbreaks. The drill was needed to equip staff with the knowledge on emergency preparedness and the actions to take during fire and electrical emergencies.

The training involved theoretical presentations and practical simulations on controlling different types of fires using various firefighting equipment.

What staff learned

• How to handle a fire outbreak: sounding the fire alarm, patient evacuation, assembling at a safe place, making an emergency call to GNFS, when and how to use fire extinguishers, and conducting a roll call.
• Managing electrical faults and failures, including servicing electrical connections and equipment, and locating and turning off the main switch.
• How the different types of fire extinguishers work, including how to identify a poorly functioning extinguisher.

First published in the St. Elizabeth Catholic Hospital Newsletter, Maiden Edition (2022).

Early detection and treatment of disease, disease prevention and health promotion are critical in public health improvement. St. Elizabeth Hospital places premium importance on public health and so has an ongoing community interaction as a form of corporate social responsibility.

Aimed at bringing health to the doorstep of the people, St. Elizabeth-in-the-Community is a platform for health care providers to identify sociocultural practices that influence the health of the populace and institute appropriate interventions. It operates through radio health education, school health, and education and screening at market places, workplaces and places of worship. Through St. Elizabeth-in-the-Community, non-communicable diseases, particularly hypertension and diabetes, among rural community members are detected and treatment initiated early for improved outcomes.

What we found in 2022

In the first half of 2022, St. Elizabeth-in-the-Community activities included health screening exercises held in five communities. In all, 935 persons, including inmates of the Kenyasi Prisons, were screened for various health conditions, measuring among others body weight, height, BMI, blood glucose and blood pressure.

• 30% had elevated blood pressure and a further 24% had high blood pressure.
• 13% were obese, and a further 36% were either under- or overweight.
• 11.2% of participants recorded high blood glucose levels.

First published in the St. Elizabeth Catholic Hospital Newsletter, Maiden Edition (2022).

At the request of Hospital Management, the Ahafo Regional Police Command, through the Kenyasi Police Training School, conducted nine days of in-service training for nineteen (19) security personnel at St. Elizabeth Hospital.

The participants were taken through modern security techniques and practices, including:

• Beat and patrol duties
• Basic techniques of criminal investigation
• Security surveillance, arrest and search
• Crowd management
• Gender intelligence and client care
• Stress management
• Local knowledge and observations
• Intelligence gathering and analysis
• Physical training, drill and defensive tactics
• Weapon handling
• Disaster management and collaboration
• Dealing with corruption and deviant behaviour among personnel

Graduation and award ceremony

Hospital Management subsequently organised a graduation and award ceremony to present certificates of completion to the security personnel and certificates of acknowledgement to the trainers. Present at the ceremony were Rev. Sr. Comfort Michelle Apedzi (Hospital Administrator), Dr. Richard Selormey (Acting Medical Director), Mrs. Gladys Bediako (Nurse Manager), Mr. Clement Opoku (Pharmacist), Ms. Cecilia Newman (Principal Midwifery Officer) and a police entourage headed by the Commander of the Kenyasi Police Training School, Chief Supt. Omari.

In a short address, Chief Supt. Omari charged the security men to be cognisant of their role as essential service providers who need to discharge their duties with professionalism, thereby securing a sound atmosphere for workers, patients and visitors of the hospital at all times.

First published in the St. Elizabeth Catholic Hospital Newsletter, Maiden Edition (2022).