Medical Practices in St. Thomas

I have had and heard the worries since I moved down here in 1991. What do you do if you have a medical problem? Where would you go? Who do you trust? What if it is serious? Well, my answers over the years have changed, and all for the better.

I got really sick shortly after Hurricane Marilyn. It was late 1995 and dengue fever was a lot less known than it is now. We had a lot of rain followed by high pressure with littel wind, allowing the mosquitos to thrive. After an undesirable little mosquito gave me a quick bite, I was transformed into a shell of myself, losing about 40 pounds and later being documented as one of the first, if not the first, case of hemmoragic dengue fever. This kept me out of work for over a month.

But it was also at this time that James Clayton, owner of Cruz Bay Family Practice and Red Hook Family Practice, was able to install faith in the medical field in the VI. He took great care of me then, and has continued to do so since. His medical practice is state of the art and is far from lagging those in the States.

But despite the services offered at his practices, he is not an expert in all fields, and that is where a lot of the worry comes in. What if you have a heart attack? Or a stroke? Or you tear your ACL? Or you break your leg?

Well, I am fortunate enough that I have not had to experience any of these things. But the more I hear from others, the better I feel. I did mess up my knee recently while playing tennis (another story altogether). So I have been through the steps at St. Thomas Radiology with getting an MRI. I have seen orthopedics that seem as capable as those that repaired my ACL during my Aspen days. And I will be going in for more surgery in early December, at least it looks that way right now. It is this current experience that has me thinking about the development we have seen in the medical field on St. Thomas, as I would not have considered surgery down here until now.

So for those that worry about the medical in the VI, there is great hope, promise, and viable choices here. There are plenty of experts that can take care of you. And if that still doesn't provide the level of comfort you are looking for, you can still purchase MASA (Air Transportation Insurance) to get you to Puerto Rico or Miami.