For the longest time, I’ve defended Peebles Hospital when questioned about it by doubting tourists, and many positive letters to the Beacon from grateful patients seem to have supported my view. But a recent incident has made me question present funding for public health care and the logic behind the new hospital.
Weeks ago, I broke my wrist, and as the injury was work-related I went to the emergency room to start the process (I’ve since found out that Social Security no longer requires this). As the ER is essentially triage, I assumed I would be referred to a specialist if required, but I was assured mine was a common fracture and that wouldn’t be necessary. What I wasn’t told was that the hospital doesn’t actually have an orthopaedic specialist!
Nor, it seems, does it have enough emergency medical technicians: In a subsequent visit, I had to wait three hours for one to do my cast because the ambulance was out (I was told they’ve been short-staffed for years). And when it came time for the cast to be removed, the only working cutter had a blunt blade, but there was no spare available. Then the digital x-ray machine that had initially impressed me was no longer working. But the staff members were cheery, and I was told things were okay with my wrist, so why worry about the details?
Cancelled check-up
I had been booked into the Friday orthopaedic clinic for a two-week check-up, but it was cancelled because of the royal wedding, so my wrist was put in a hard cast without a doctor looking at it. Within days I was in extreme pain and losing feeling in my fingers. That’s when a concerned ER doctor finally referred me to the island’s sole orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Nagy Darwish at the Bougainvillea Clinic. Unfortunately, Dr. Darwish was off island at the time, so by the time he operated on my wrist, a full month of healing had been wasted. Apparently, I could have achieved the same result treating myself at sea! Fortunately, he’s confident I will eventually make a full recovery, but only because of timely intervention.
I have no gripe with the ER, although I do question why no attempt was made to manipulate my hand into place (this is the standard procedure since it was first documented in 1814!). No, my big question has to be how can a modern hospital credibly function without something as essential as an orthopaedic specialist? Or enough technicians. Or equipment that works. Is insufficient capital the culprit? And if a basic speciality is lacking, what of more esoteric ones, and how will the new hospital be able to support them given our small population? Will patients still be sent to other facilities that have the relevant expertise? That would seem logical, so what justified such a huge building in the first place? And will it ever be fully utilised? The present hospital doesn’t seem to be bursting at the seams.
‘Something is backwards’
Millions of dollars already have been spent on the new building, and millions more are still required to complete it, yet I couldn’t get a straightforward fracture of my wrist fixed in the existing facility (and for the record, I was told I’m the second case Dr. Darwish has had to correct this year). Surely something is backwards there!
And that is without factoring in the seven six-figure consultancies commissioned over the years. They certainly mystified a contractor with considerable United States hospital experience, as he told me the original plans were fundamentally sound and only needed tweaking.
I don’t think anyone questions the fact that Peebles needs modernising, but one has to wonder if the new plan was thought through in a rational manner. Actually, the original proposal was far more modest (and realistic?): There’s an architect’s impression of it in the old lobby, but it obviously wasn’t grandiose enough in someone’s eye.
What if all that extra money had been invested in the smaller building, with provision for outside treatment when needed? I think health-wise everyone would have won, which makes the cynic in me question whether the final plan had more to do with contracts than care.
West End terminal
Sadly, it seems that no lessons have been learned from this debacle: Word is, the totally unnecessary and unwanted new West End ferry terminal will go ahead soon, and the airport extension plans are real (is no one in government aware that the USVI airports are both seasonal and in debt: Why not subsidise feeder flights instead?). Add to those the questionable road modifications by Nanny Cay, plans for a new market in Road Town (despite no one using the old one), and a proposed cultural centre nearby that will dwarf the neighbourhood as further examples of probable financial waste.
With all this largess, is it too much to ask for something that actually benefits everyone in the VI — residents and visitors alike — such as a well-funded operational hospital? Or is that wishful thinking in an election year?
Postnote: A friend of mine just had his life saved by the staff at Peebles after severing an artery, which takes me back to my opening paragraph!