Safe places to live on St. Croix

good grief OT

I said nothing about lying.

I said that your individual experience does not indicate what others might experience in the ER on STX. ]

The question of "lying" was one asked of you given your dismissiveness of my experiences. Everyone's experiences are going to be different regardless of which island hospital they go to depending on day of week, time of day and phase of the moon. I said nothing to indicate otherwise. As I've pointed out, my experiences at the STT hospital have been a very mixed bag (care to hear how they almost killed me off once?) but overall I think the care is "adequate" and I believe the same to be true of the STX facility. Good grief indeed.

OT you brought up lying, you asked me directly:

Then again maybe those who are relating good experiences are just plain lying?

I merely meant, since you are on STT your comments don't have any bearing on what is happening in the ER on STX. Yes Good Grief

Reading comprehension 101 followed by a basic understanding of tangential reasoning is sometimes helpful to those in need.

I was not dismissing your experiences, merely stating that they had no bearing on what happens on STX.

You seem to be in need of those very skills that you mention in your last post.

OldTart: I'm sure your 30 years on STT have been magical and peaceful and that explains your completely passive acceptance of everything that happens. Yay for you.

Regardless of your subjective experience (however achingly long it actually is) on a completely different island, I care that:

-- 2 out of 3 ER doctors quit in the single hospital on MY island extremely recently (please show me an example of that happening anywhere else);

-- There's been no evidence that they've been replaced by locums (temporary doctors) -- unlikely, considering there was only one overworked soul on a holiday YESTERDAY;

-- It is extremely difficult or impossible to find alternative care options, even when a patient is in considerable distress;

-- That a machine that is an absolute baseline for adequate care for fairly common medical events had "orders placed for parts" and no other note but that. Failures like that are regarded as gamebreaking critical everywhere else because that machine saves lives. (No, it doesn't treat trivial lacerations,which seem to be the baseline of adequate care for some posters);

-- Moreover, a VI Consortium article described how the ambulances on this island are frequently unusable due to maintenance problems, as in "no money" maintenance problems.

Finally, this recurrent "if you don't like it leave" attitude is both ridiculous and elitist-privileged. Not everybody can leave. Everyone on STX deserves a functional hospital with adequate professional staffing, supplies, and equipment. I feel for the medical professionals trying to work with such little support -- "well, it was okay for me that one time, so I guess everything's okay."

OldTart's comments are irrelevant to the issue at hand.

Not at all. The point is (as I thought was pretty clear but I'll try and reword for better clarification) that the hospitals here and the emergent care they provide are no different from most stateside hospitals. To opine as you did that, "your chances at getting timely and adequate medical care here appear to be disintegrating" is, based on my experiences over 30 years here, misleading at best.

So during your 30 years in STT you've had recent extensive experiences with stateside ERs?

So during your 30 years in STT you've had recent extensive experiences with stateside ERs?

Not personally but, although geographically isolated I have many, many stateside friends and acquaintances with whom I'm in regular contact who share their experiences; I'm an avid reader who regularly follows the news in several stateside communities and forums; and stay in touch with several travel nurses who've done stints in the islands and throughout the US. I worked in major hospitals, medical teaching institutions and private physician's offices for several years in one of my former lives and medical care has remained an interest.

Why do so many threads here degenerate into a pissing match with OT?

Why do so many threads here degenerate into a pissing match with OT?

She's insufferable.

However, another point I want to make is that influx of educated, entrepreneurial mainlanders may actually be a tipping point in this so called island life and drive for change.

Maybe that's on STT, but on STX, most transplants are inbred hicks.

We now represent 25% of population here. If we get it past 50, eventually we will prevail and change.

Said Netanyahu re: Palestine. Absurdly (though not surprisingly so for a transplant) racist.

Sounds like Potter's Earring should stay on his ear.

Sounds like Potter's Earring should stay on his ear.

LOL
yea trying to get my redneck on...

"Maybe that's on STT, but on STX, most transplants are inbred hicks"

Wow. I'm soon to be a transplant. I've been called many things but an "inbred hick"is a new one for me. Roll out that welcome mat, lol.

Aw, shucks. We done been found out!! Postin' this from my couch on the porch of my trailer while gazin' at my car-on-blocks and tryin' not to lust after my brother, while sippin' moonshine, because I don't have enough teeth for a real breakfast of delicious roadkill squirrel sausage. Just waitin' for the washer beside me to finish cleanin' ma good pair of Daisy shorts n 6 inch tube top.

(Full disclaimer: To be honest, my husband's uncle is also his second cousin. But I swear, after drawing up genealogy charts for days after we found out the story behind his adoption, my daughter is not genetically compromised).

I got seven stitches in the STX ER on Sunday. Was admitted within half hour and was out in less than two hours. The staff was courteous, professional, and I didn't see any glaring issues with the facilities. Just my 2 cents.

All the people complaining about the VI, there are flights leaving daily. If you made the move down and don't like it here, why put yourself through so much agony.

The more places I go around the world, the more appreciation I have for the VI and especially STX. Sure we have our problems, but so does every place in the world. Decide what you want in life and do what you have to do to get it.

My experiences exactly regarding the hospital.

I'll even take those that need a ride to the airport!

Well said MattT.

CD

Maybe that's on STT, but on STX, most transplants are inbred hicks.

....

Said Netanyahu re: Palestine. Absurdly (though not surprisingly so for a transplant) racist.

Pot calling the kettle black?

I thought OT was being a bit toxic in this thread, way to step up the game!

For all you rednecks out there:

Meaning

The notion that a criticism that a person makes of another could equally well apply to themself.

Origin

This phrase originates in Cervantes' Don Quixote, or at least in Thomas Shelton's 1620 translation - Cervantes Saavedra's History of Don Quixote:

"You are like what is said that the frying-pan said to the kettle, 'Avant, black-browes'."

The first person who is recorded as using the phrase in English was William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in his Some fruits of solitude, 1693:

"For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality... is for the Pot to call the Kettle black."

Shakespeare had previously expressed a similar notion in a line in Troilus and Cressida, 1606:

"The raven chides blackness."

I love etymology, thanks for the info!

Where was that copied and pasted from?

Where was that copied and pasted from?

Here: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/287950.html

There is so much negative posted about the hospital. I know they have problems in the ER but many ERs in the states have the same problems. One of the problems is that many people rely on bush therapies and are in very bad shape when they finally go to the hospital and the the ER gets overwhelmed with critical patients. Ond critical patient can take many staff members to help . Maybe If people would stop complaining and maybe do something to help the situation things might get better. They complain about the lack of supplies and broken equipment, why not have a community found raier to help. 70% of the patients are on Medicare and Medicaid so reimbursement is low. The men and women who work at the hospital are doing the best they can with what they have. If you don't like the hospital and want to complain go somewhere else. I once listened to a woman complain for 5 minutes about the hospital and the last thing she said was. But they saved my husband's life. I guess it was a good thing we had this terrible hospital here for him.

"Maybe if people would stop complaining and do something things would get better." Agreed. There are at least five people (nine, if they could get their act together) who have a mandate to do something. It's their JOB, in case you don't know what "mandate" means. They're called the Board of Directors.

http://viconsortium.com/breaking-news/juan-f-luis-hospital-management-crisis/

This schoolyard drama has been going on for years. Report after report, story after story, administrative mismanagement. (Please pay attention this time: No-one has criticized the skills or dedication of the medical professionals at the hospital.) What are the other options to "do something"? Are you suggesting a bake sale? This isn't Catholic school, pal. This is grown-up stuff.

But please, be my guest and tell people to "leave" if they're worried about the functional management of the single hospital on the island. (Doesn't this forum smugly advise at least $10K to move here? Well, I guess everyone on STX has that in their couch cushions for a move elsewhere, no worries.) I'll even paint you the sandwich board so you can get the word out to everyone, as long as you let me film you wearing it for YouTube.

Maybe the problem here is people who want to see progress are just told "if you don't like it leave" and they do and the same various issues remain. That's why we are where we are.Random though I'm sure I'll get jumped on for.

(Doesn't this forum smugly advise at least $10K to move here? Well, I guess everyone on STX has that in their couch cushions for a move elsewhere, no worries.)

There's nothing "smug" about the $10K suggestion and it's been broken down many, many times. Obviously many are able to move here with much less as everybody's circumstances, wants and needs are different. However, the $10K is considered a general guide and covers the usual first, last and one month's security deposit on accommodation (minimum $3K for something simple); utility, cable and internet deposits; purchase of an island car and associated costs; purchase of basic necessities to stock a home; and living expenses until the newcomer finds employment. Obviously these are all variables but to describe $10K as a "smug" figure is unhelpful and erroneous.