Areas of Care
Care Units & CIF
In Executive Order No. 2020-06, Guam Governor Lourdes Leon Guerrero has designated GMHA as the “COVID-19 Hospital Facility”. As part of the COVID-19 response plan, GMHA provided and continues to provide medical services for patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have COVID-19 related illnesses. The advent of the pandemic propelled the hospital to plan and prepare for services to be rendered safely to its patients during emergency situations. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic GMH has established a total of 5 care units, Covid dialysis unit, and Covid Isolation Facility (CIF) in Barrigada.
Emergency Room
Our Emergency Department provides Level II services with emergency certified physicians, qualified licensed and non-licensed nursing staff. This department is operational on a 24-hour basis on the second floor of the Guam Memorial Hospital. It serves a patient population that consists of newborn, pediatrics, adolescent, and adult and geriatric patients requiring or seeking medical care. Significant subgroups of patients include patients who are mildly ill to the critically ill necessitating comprehensive emergency measures, which includes, but are not limited to trauma, cardiac, respiratory, gastrointestinal, infectious disease and orthopedics.
Hemodialysis
Our Hemodialysis Unit provides dialysis treatment for GMH’s in-patient population with approximately 3,000 treatments performed annually. The inpatient unit and annex located in the third floor has a total of 8 stations. Hemodialysis nurses operate in 2-3 shifts depending on current census and patient acuity from Monday through Saturday. Patients that are unstable receive HD treatment at bedside with a 1:1 nursing care. This unit is equipped with well -trained and experienced dialysis nurses, ward clerk, Medical Director and four Nephrologist consultants.
Intensive Care Unit / Critical Care Unit
Our Intensive Care Unit/Critical Care Unit (ICU/CCU) at the Guam Memorial Hospital serves as a place of monitoring and care of adult patients with potentially severe physiological instability requiring technical and/or artificial life support. The level of care in the ICU is greater than that available on the floor or Intermediate Care Unit. Comprehensive, high-quality care is provided with support from pharmacy services, respiratory therapy, laboratory services, nutritional services, physical therapy, pastoral care, and social services.
Labor & Delivery
Our Labor & Delivery Unit offers specialized care and services to expectant mothers who are 20 weeks gestation to term, from high risk patients to low risk labor and delivery patients. It is dedicated to providing high quality care to all antepartal, intrapartal, and the immediate postpartal patients, including the newly born. It provides a culture of safety for the mother and the baby during labor, delivery, and immediate postpartum.
Medical-Surgical Unit
The Medical-Surgical Unit of the Guam Memorial Hospital provides caring, individualized attention to all patients who are hospitalized for illness, surgery or testing and observation. Through the collaboration between physicians, nurses, pharmacists and physical, occupational, speech and respiratory therapists safe and high quality care is provided to patients. This department continues to keep our patients and their family members updated, informed, and comfortable during the course of their admission and in preparing them for discharge.
Nursery / Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
The Newborn Nursery/Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Guam Memorial Hospital provides services as part of the broadened concept of perinatal care, which encompasses concern for the mother and assures adequate intrauterine fetal environment. The NICU staff ensures the delivery of quality patient care in accordance with locally and nationally accepted standards of a safe environment and supplies the education for the infant’s parents and significant others in important aspects of care that assures maximum potential for infant growth and development.
OB / Maternity Ward
The Obstetric / Maternal ward of the Guam Memorial Hospital provides continuous care for mother and well babies. This unit provides individualized care in a safe environment to meet the patient’s total therapeutic, physical, emotional, spiritual, social, economic and rehabilitation needs. OB/Maternity Ward’s prime focus is a provision of all aspects of patient care needs, while promoting patient and family self-involvement in care.
Operating Room / Post Anesthesia Care Unit
The Operating Room/PACU of Guam Memorial Hospital provides services for operative and other invasive procedures and immediate postoperative care on a 24-hour basis. The Operating Room/PACU provides a safe and comfortable environment for both patients and personnel in order to provide optimum assistance to the surgeon in meeting the emergency, preventive and restorative health needs of the patients.
Pediatrics Ward / Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit
The Pediatric Ward/PICU at the Guam Memorial Hospital provides medical, pre- and post-surgical care of all patients from newborn to 17 years of age requiring inpatient hospital services. Scope of services for the Pediatric Ward/PICU include basic general medical nursing care, including the treatment of respiratory conditions requiring continuous oxygenation to the patient via mask, or cannula; pre- and post-surgical care and monitoring, convalescence and health restoration. All Pediatric Ward/PICU staff include family members in the care of the pediatric patient in order to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the patient and their family.
Skilled Nursing Unit
Our Skilled Nursing Unit (SNU), located in Barrigada Heights, provides patients with long-term rehabilitative care. The SNU is Medicare certified for 40 beds. The Unit is staffed with a Medical Director, Unit Coordinator, Social Services, Dietary, Rehabilitation, Facilities, Environmental and Security Staff.
Surgical Unit
The Surgical Unit serves the general patient population with a variety of surgical diagnoses, orthopedic procedures, general abdominal surgery, urologic procedures, breast and gynecological procedures, diabetes, stroke, wound management, and infectious diseases. This department is staffed with registered nurses and nurse assistants who manages patients pre-operatively and post-operatively.
Telemetry / Progressive Care Unit
The Telemetry Unit of the Guam Memorial Hospital provides continuous cardiac and biophysical monitoring, pharmacologic therapy, and critical or specialized therapeutic interventions to adult patients who are medically fragile. The unit serves an inpatient population requiring acute medical management including pre- and post-operative care, diagnostic testing, clinical treatment and convalescence. Patients in this unit typically require a higher level of nursing care than found in the general patient care units or those patients that are stable but have a high potential of becoming unstable and require increased nursing care.
Our Progressive Care Unit serves as a unit for the monitoring and care for patients with moderate and potentially severe physiologic instability, requiring technical support but not necessarily life support; a unit reserved for those patients requiring less care that standard intensive care, but more than that which available from standard medical/surgical care.
Dietary
Employees of Dietetic Services work together to provide nutritional and food services to our patients, customers and the community. Dietetic services employ 47 staff (clinical and production staff). Reporting to work regularly and on time is an essential function of every position in this department. Philosophy and Motto of Dietetic Services: “Food from the heart for Body and Spirit.”
Laboratory
Guam Memorial Hospital’s CAP Certified Laboratory Department has seven service departments: blood bank (transfusion services, donor processing, immunology), urinalysis/parasitology, hematology, phlebotomy, chemistry, microbiology, and anatomic Pathology (surgical and autopsies). The primary role of the Medical Laboratory is to assist in the provision of quality medical care by providing accurate, reliable patient testing and comprehensive laboratory services.
Pharmacy
The Pharmacy Department mission is to provide the most accurate, complete, safe and expedient pharmacy service for the patients of GMH. This department operates 24-hour a day and concerns itself with all aspects of medication use. Pharmacy department shares the responsibility with physicians and nurses for monitoring the patient’s response to medication.
Radiology / Interventional Radiology
Our Radiology Department performs standard X-rays, angiography, fluoroscopy, biopsies, ultrasounds, and interventional procedures. CAT scans are performed with our state-of-the-art 64-slice CT machine. All images may be digitally transmitted to any major medical institution anywhere in the world for consultation with medical specialists.
At our Interventional Radiology Department, Physicians use medical imaging such as Fluoroscopy, Computed Tomography, and Ultrasound to guide minimally invasive procedures that Diagnose, Treat and Cure many kinds of health conditions. The Interventional Radiology Team also consists of specialized nurses, technologist, and technicians that assist the Physician in providing quality patient care in a safe environment during these procedures.
Rehabilitative Care
Rehabilitative Care provides services in physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), speech therapy ST), and cardiac rehabilitation (CR). The PT department will provide a variety of evaluative and therapeutic procedures to promote and maintain a person’s highest level of functional independence. The OT department will provide a variety of evaluative procedures, treatment modalities and techniques, and education to improve the patient’s functional independence in the areas of self-care, work, and leisure activities. The ST department will provide a variety of evaluative and treatment procedures to those individuals in need of improving their overall communication functioning. The CR department will provide a variety of evaluative and therapeutic procedures to promote and maintain a person’s highest level of functional independence with individuals known to have cardiovascular disease and/or after an acute cardiac event. The purpose is to limit and reduce the physiologic and psychological effects of cardiovascular disease.
Respiratory Care
Our Respiratory Care Department is open twenty-four hours a day. Staffing consists of at least four to five therapists/technicians. This department services newborns, infants, pediatrics, adolescent, adult and geriatric patients requiring cardiac, respiratory care services and treatment or testing to maintain optimum physiological maintenance of cardiac, and respiratory systems. Therapeutics includes: oxygen therapy, aerosol therapy, chest physiotherapy, ventilator management, CPAP or BIPAP management, arterial blood gas draws, bronchial hygiene and cardiopulmonary resuscitation for all age groups.
Special Services
Special Services Department services inpatient and outpatient for electrocardiogram (EKG); Transthoracic Echocardiogram (TTE); Stress Echocardiogram; Transesophageal Echocardiogram (TEE); Permanent Pacemaker insertion (PPM) & Coronary Angiogram; PTCA (Balloon Angioplasty); PCI (Stent Placement) other heart procedures. Other services include Electroencephalogram (EEG), Ortho and Hand Surgery Consults and Surgeries; Cardiology Consults and Procedures.
Social Services
Social Services Department provides services to inpatients/SNU residents, outpatients, their families, physicians, and hospital staff, from 8 AM to 5 PM. Monday through Friday. This department’s services include: social evaluation of family or home situation, discharge planning, medical and financial assistance, supportive counseling, crisis intervention, community resource information and referrals, off-island transfer coordination, and long term care social work services.