JFL Hospital - It's Worse Than You Can Imagine

JFL is worse than anyone can imagine - wrought with political intrigue and crushing financial woes.  

 

This post is so true. And, even local GP's will tell you straight up to seek specialized medical care on the mainland and not use their local colleagues. For example, I recently had a urology issue. While handing me a referral to a local Urologist, my GP looked me straight in the eye and strongly suggested I instead seek care in Florida, definitely NOT from the local guy. I followed his advise and received excellent care in FLL. Spirit Airlines is a great asset to STX as I could fly back and forth for $50 or $60 bucks a pop. The FLL doctor said he sees VI patients frequently and his staff scheduled my diagnostics and procedures conveniently to minimize travel. I was very impressed and delighted with the good service and care.

The amount of money leaving the territory for even routine medical procedures must be staggering. And, that could be said for so many things in the VI. Oh well.

No doubt about this being one of the top issues in the territory and STX in particular.  As seasonal residents we make sure to do all our regular healthcare in the Boston area plus we do have the medivac insurance, if for some reason that gets hung up in an emergency, I won’t hesitate to charter the plane without insurance.

The good news is it’s fairly easy to get to PR or the Mainland quickly so it’s the sudden and traumatic situations that are the real concern.

My wife and I are both over 65, in excellent health and have long relationships with our doctors in the Boston area.  We now have Medicare plus we are currently using the AARP UnitedHealthCare supplemental insurance.  It’s fairly comparable to the Blue Cross Blue Shield we had when I was working.  We have access to the supplemental insurance because we use our MA address when registering for Medicare. 

Just don’t sign up for Medicare Advantage plans. It is not adequate for high mobility people. 

With the departure of Dr. Abate, there is one full-time cardiologist and one part-time cardiologist on STX plus the temp at Plessen.  They have to tend to JFL patients, be on-call, read tests results, manage their practices and see practice patients. 

This is unsustainable. This will cause harm to patients because necessary medical care is delayed or unavailable.

Sadly, all are competent, caring physicians but they have been hamstrung by political expediency superceding today's patient care.

Further, the patient charting software at JFL is becoming obsolete, and if not replaced, will stop working within the coming months.

Yes, lucky for us who have the resources to fly to first-world care. But in an emergency, you need JFL physicans to get you on that air-ambulance.

Very informative and very scary. Makes you want to pack up and move to the mainland

@stcmike Some people have,solely due to the lack of normal care available elsewhere. And lack of insurance oprions. 

Posted by: @cruzaniron

Some people have, solely due to the lack of normal care available elsewhere. And lack of insurance options. 

Healthcare is definitely one of the reasons we'll eventually leave the VI.

Don't make the same mistake we made. My better half won the argument and we sold our house we had for 8 years on STX and moved to Florida in 2019. Long story short finally found a doctor that diagnosed my problem and repaired it. Got well enough to miss the island life in December of '21, sold our house in Florida in April of this year and bought another one here. Our mistake was selling here. Don't make the same mistake until you are sure you are DONE with the Island. 

Don't make the same mistake until you are sure you are DONE with the Island. 

That's good advice! We own another home on the mainland so living there is an option. 

The reality is that after 20 years on island, we're bored with it.

Also, having the kids living in two different countries other than the US offers interesting options.

@vicanuck  I hear that same story from people who leave the Northeast (NY/Ct/NJ) and move to Florida and then realize they can't take the summer heat and large bugs and end up moving back north or just sulk in the bad decision they've made.  However if you are leaving for medical reasons that is something different, you have to take care of your health first and being a long distance landlord can be stressful so I can understand you may need to sell your property.

@stcmike Yeah, I've heard the same from a few others too. We have no firm plans yet, nor a destination in mind, but we'll most definitely leave within the next few years.

Good docs and healthcare was one of the reasons we needed to leave. been going to Cleveland here in SOFLO and it is amazing. 

Posted by: @vicanuck

@stcmike Yeah, I've heard the same from a few others too. We have no firm plans yet, nor a destination in mind, but we'll most definitely leave within the next few years.

We’re also fortunate as we have options in the Boston area when healthcare becomes a deciding factor but the income our STX home can generate should more then cover all the properties running costs if necessary, so our intention is not to sell but rather pass on the property once my wife and I are gone.  It’s going to be difficult for me to give up the island life so I’m going to continue to hope the medical situation gets turned around.  It’s not a money issue as I see it, it’s political at it’s core, like so many other things on the island.