UHWI to join global observance of emergency week
Published:Sunday | May 25, 2025 | 8:40 PM
The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) is joining the global recognition of Emergency Week 2025, which comes as hospitals face growing demand from patients bypassing community clinics and the surge in non-communicable diseases.
The eight-day observance is expected to highlight the work of emergency department staff including doctors, nurses, technicians, patient care assistants, phlebotomists, and auxiliary teams.
The UHWI hospital is observing the week under the theme: “Innovating Emergency Care – honouring our roots, shaping our future.” Emergency Medicine Day, officially marked worldwide on May 27, was launched in 1994 by the European Society of Emergency Medicine to promote access to competent, timely care for all.
“Emergency medicine is a specialty where practitioners are trained to assess, diagnose and manage acute life- and limb-threatening pathologies,” said emergency medicine consultant Dr Romayne Edwards. “It is a unique area in that as a specialty it intersects significantly with other specialities. Emergencies spanning several specialities are seen.”
She added: “Patients are assessed, resuscitated, stabilised, investigated, diagnosed and treated, after which decisions are made regarding disposition… whether the patient needs to be seen by other specialties as an emergency, urgently, or can be followed up in the clinic, at a private specialist of their choice, or at their general practitioner.”
On Tuesday, May 27, UHWI will host a webinar under the sub-theme “Elevating Emergency Excellence.” Speakers include Professor Phillip Levy, of Wayne State University, and UHWI’s own Professor Jean Williams-Johnson. The session will be streamed on Zoom and YouTube from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
While most of the week’s activities are scheduled for June 9–14, the celebration begins with a church service on June 8 at Dominion Kingdom Embassy Ministries on Old Hope Road. Other activities include an expo, sexual assault examination webinar, quiz, netball and football matches, social events, a dinner forum, and a final walkathon/road race.
This year’s global theme is “Proud to Provide Your Emergency Care.”
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