We got ourselves some Medical Emergency!

I had to take two of my fellow students to the St. Kitts ER and I feel that it was an experience I should share with all of you.

First off, when you get here during your orientation week, pay attention when you do your island tour. Make sure you are aware of where the Hospital is. This is important in case of emergency, which could happen when you least expect it. 

I took one student (San Antonio) to the ER and the second trip I took another friend (Connecticut).

The first trip to the ER I took another student (San Antonio). We were all studying in one of the study halls in the dorm building when San Antonio mentioned that he had a slight pain from his lower back. His pain continued to get worse as time passed. Within 10 mins of the pain started he was painful enough that we needed to take him to the nurse on campus. We joking said that he had kidney stones and we drove him to the other side of campus to the nurse’s office. San Antonio was in pretty serious pain by the time we got him into the nurse’s office.

The nurse was super sweet and helped us out and after taking some info and vitals, she informed me that we needed to take him directly to the hospital. The hospital is less than 5mins away from the campus. 

Upon arriving, I will tell you that I was greeted by two very strange sights.

First: The nurses were is solid white uniforms. The male nurses had white scrub pants and tops on. The female nurses looked like they had been kidnapped from the 1950’s. The female nurses had white heels on with pantyhose and white tops and white pencil skirts. To top off the complete 1950’s image, they had the little white nurse hats pinned in their hair.

Second: The main hall of the hospital was an open-air hallway. This meant that there were no doors, just a large open archway that leads into the hospital.

Once we entered the hospital we went into the first set of doors on our left and came into a large empty room with chairs pushed up against 3 of the 4 walls. We went and found a nurse who quickly took us into a small room off to the side of the large lobby/waiting area.

Once the nurse had completed the series of questions, the nurse took us through a set of double doors into another room (about the same size as the last one), it was the ER Doctor’s office.

The ER Doctor reviewed the nurse's notes and examined our friend and then wrote out an order slip for a list of things to be done. Before any of that could be started we had to go pre-pay for our friend’s medical bills (the things the Doctor had ordered up).

I WOULD GREATLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU TAKE A GOOD FRIEND WITH YOU IF YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE ER! It makes life a lot easier for you, for your friend to answer all the questions and run back and forth from the front desk, so you don’t have to when you are feeling so ill.

After we got the receipt for payment of the preorders things, to the nurse, they started treating our friend. They did antibiotics, IV Fluids, meds, x-rays and, of course, the ER exam visit. All of that came out to be under $100 US! Which is mind-blowing!

Word to the wise, the nurses will try to kick anyone who isn’t the patient out of the ER area. They won’t let you stay with your friend while they get fluids or anything. They will make you wait in the waiting room and also, you are not allowed to use your phone in the ER area.

I was able to make a short little video of us trying to calulate a drip rate, before the head nusre kicked us out to the waiting room. Hahaha

You can, however, use your phone and the free hospital Wifi, in the ER lobby.

All in all, it was quite an adventure. I highly recommend that you make sure you know how to get to the hospital. You never know when you or a friend made need to go there. Better safe than sorry.

Here is the hospital's information:

JNF GENERAL HOSPITAL 

•  869-465-2551

Joseph N. France General Hospital in Basseterre is the largest hospital in the Federation and offers general surgery, emergency, radiology and other services. The hospital also functions as a teaching institution for medical students and student nurses.