Students and staff of the Barbados Community College’s (BCC) Interior Design Programme have teamed up with the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) to address a major need of some of the facility’s youngest patients.

They’ve been working on a complete redesign of the more than 60-year-old Paediatric Ward.

The ward has seen few changes since its construction in the 1960s, and hospital staff are eager for an overhaul of its organisation and amenities.

Director of Medical Services at the QEH Dr. Clyde Cave explained that the demands of the medical space have evolved in the last 40 years, and that the Paediatric Ward was in desperate need of refurbishment if it was to meet the needs of its staff, patients and guests.

It was this need that inspired Dr. Cave to invite the help of BCC Tutor, Stephen Jackman, who immediately set about researching the rooms and assembling his team.

With the support of his former students, Jackman has already submitted a proposal and is awaiting approval to proceed to the next stage of the project.

Emphasizing privacy, organisation, efficiency and comfort, Jackman stressed that both functional and emotional needs had to be considered in a ward that housed parents and patients, and that the BCC team had incorporated input from both when creating their new designs.

“A lot of these children are not coming out of the ward so there's a lot of grief and not really enough space for parents to grieve or heal and deal with trauma,” said Jackman.

He picked four of his best students for the job and has been continually impressed by their performance.

“They bring a perspective to this project, they bring different strengths,” he said, “they eat and breathe interior design.”

Dr. Cave expressed his satisfaction with the design so far and is excitedly awaiting approval.

“We have obviously given an impossible task with too many asks for the space that’s available, but they’ve listened to the technical needs from the users, they’ve listened to the parents... and I think they’ve come up with a plan that is much better than what we have now.”

He also encouraged the public to listen out for updates as an initiative like this will need public and private support and hopes Barbadians will take ownership of this development in their national health system.

“I think you probably value things more if you have invested in it and seen the process going along.”

As it approaches a year since the BCC team submitted a floor plan for approval they remain optimistic about the project’s future.