Shirmelle Gomes Email & Phone Number

The Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit is pleased to announce the appointment of Mrs. Shirmelle Gomes to the post of Surveillance Officer, effective 1st January 2014.In 2009, an opportunity arose for Shirmelle to work alongside the Surveillance Officer a few times per week. Through work shadowing, she gained skills in public health surveillance of communicable diseases, namely the collection and collation of communicable disease reports from the sentinel physicians and other reporting sources. Shirmelle has also been trained in mortality surveillance, which includes the collection and collation of mortality information (death certificates, autopsy reports, sudden death reports, etc.) to determine the underlying cause of death and apply the appropriate mortality codes using the International Standard Classification of Diseases. This training was first done alongside the previous Surveillance Officer and involved attending a Mortality Coding workshop at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in Trinidad in 2010. The trainers were very impressed with Shirmelle and in 2012 she was sent on her own to Trinidad for further training in mortality coding. Also in 2012, Shirmelle participated in a local mortality surveillance workshop with CAREC representatives, physicians, the Office of the Registrar General, and the Coroner’s Office to streamline mortality surveillance in Bermuda, an ongoing process. To this end, Shirmelle was also trained in the management of electronic mortality surveillance databases (MMDS and MortBase) and has established relationships with other Mortality Coders in the region. Shirmelle, being a keen and enthusiastic learner, has been able to provide coverage for the Surveillance Officer when required since 2010. Additionally, Shirmelle is in the process of gaining her Associates in Business Administration at the Bermuda College and in March 2014 will be working towards her B.S. in Public Health with Walden University.

Listed skills include Policy, Government, Policy Analysis, Community Outreach, and 16 others.