Health Card information

Yes you need a health card to work in the food/beverage service industry. It's only my opinion but you will need more than a couple days to get a health card.

I don't remember the exact order of what you do but in general --

You will have to go to the Health Department & obtain a kit. You take it home & follow instructions since you must submit a sample of your stool to the Health Dept for testing. Once you pass this test, you have your photo taken & pay the fee for the card. The cost of the health card used to be $25 but I think the cost has gone up.

Jumbie.

You can do it in one day. Go to Beeston hill lab first thing in the a.m. If you pay $5 extra you can have the results in a few minutes.. Take the results from the stool sample to Charles hardwood clinic and you can get your card.. The key is to start early. Beeston hill lab opens before 8 and the clinic opens at 8. That's how I did it..

Thank you for the good info.

Make sure you carefully check the info on your card when you get it as well. My son just got his health card/food handler card on St. John about a month ago. When he was looking it over later in the day it had an expiration date of 2011 on it. They fixed it, but it was another trip to get it done correctly. (on a side note, my younger son's birth certificate took three tries to get it right!)

Make sure you carefully check the info on your card when you get it as well. My son just got his health card/food handler card on St. John about a month ago. When he was looking it over later in the day it had an expiration date of 2011 on it. They fixed it, but it was another trip to get it done correctly. (on a side note, my younger son's birth certificate took three tries to get it right!)

For true! My driver's license has my birthdate a full two years before my daughter was born!

Make sure you carefully check the info on your card when you get it as well. My son just got his health card/food handler card on St. John about a month ago. When he was looking it over later in the day it had an expiration date of 2011 on it. They fixed it, but it was another trip to get it done correctly. (on a side note, my younger son's birth certificate took three tries to get it right!)

LOL! They added about 150k miles to my car on the title when I shipped. Took 2 extra trips to get fixed. Now I always check every document carefully as soon as I get it.

Hello,

Here is info on how to get your health card in 2018...at least how I did it this November.
This can all be done in one day. The lab testing is almost instant turn around if you’re lucky and same with the issuing of the health card.

First you go to the beeston hill business complex near Christiansted. You drive in and go to the back left building where there is a sign labeled “laboratory” on the building. You go in and speak with this super nice woman and ask for a specimen cup. Be sure to use your manners and say please when you ask for one. Then you take that specimen cup home or wherever you fancy to do the deed and get a little scoop of brown to put in it for testing. Take specimen cup back to the laboratory and they charge you $30 for the test. If your stool test comes back negative of any parasites then you are good to go.

From there you head just a couple or few miles closer to Christiansted and go to Charles Harwood memorial hospital. It’s a pink building with a circle drive with a bunch of ambulances parked in the lot. You go in the door there and go in the right door. Tell them you are there for a health card then they make you go back out and wait in the lobby area. Eventually someone will come to get you and take you back to take your picture and issue your card. You’ll need a drivers license for all of this process. I would recommend taking cash with you as well if card machines are down. It cost $30 to get your health card at the hospital.

Altogether you pay $60 total ($30 for lab testing and $30 for the card) in November 2018. Your card expires after 1 year. Good luck! I posted this so you don’t have to drive all around like I did to get this done. Follow these steps and it will be an easy process. Also, I believe both places close at like 3pm or don’t issue health cards after that time. So be sure to get up good and early to start the process.

I am ready to move to St Thomas and am seeking a job and housing.  All jobs seem to require a USVI Health Card.  Can I get one before I mive from the Mainland and if so How fo I go about it Please

The health card -- Food Handler Card - is Virgin Island specific -- you can only get one from the VI Dept of Health.

Hello all, I am relocating to STT and want to get a health card on my pre-move visit coming up in a week, which is 1 week long. Is it still possible to get the card same day? If so, whats the best way to get it? is there a clinic at the DOH, or do i need to make 2 different trips? Do i need to be a resident to get the stool test or obtain the card? Any other updated advice appreciated. 

@brooklyntousvi I'm on STX but my daughter got it in basically 2 days, as you have to get a test kit as they check your feces for parasites, they can do this in a few hours at the lab once turned in, then you need to go to the dept. of health with your results and you can get your card.  It's about 65 dollars total.  Just find a lab before you go down so your not searching for it once on island.  And eat lots of fiber, LOL

Don't you need a local address also?

@east-ender Yes I believe so, but you don't have to prove it, so give them the address your staying at currently.

@brooklyntousvi  -- one thing I have often seen be a sticking point at the Food Handlers Card office is they want an original Social Security Card - not many people carry one, seen too many people waste a trip.