Sister's
Journal
|
| Date: |
February, 2000 |
| Location: |
Soufriere, St. Lucia |
| Position: |
13 degrees 49 minutes North,
61 degrees 03 minutes West |
A Visit to the Almost a Doctor |
| In Soufriere on the west coast of St. Lucia I managed to get strep throat that became serious enough to require medical attention. We
decided that, for security reasons, Andy had to stay on the boat so I took
the dingy into the village by myself. On pulling up to the beach several
local kids offered to "watch" my dingy for me while I ran my errands. One
is well advised to accept such offers lest one return to find his otherwise
unwatched dingy conspicuous by it's absence. So I contracted one of the
kids to watch it. |
| Another of the kids offered to guide me to my destination but my voice was so
hoarse that it was difficult to explain to him just what my destination was.
The village of Soufriere is very small so it wasn't long before I found myself
at the doctor's office. It turns out that the doctor wasn't a doctor but a
medical technician. It also turns out that he was pretty competent.
Using his giant MagLite flashlight he examined my throat and decided that I not
only needed to take antibiotics for a few days but I also needed an injection of
same right now. He wrote prescriptions for same and off I went to the
pharmacy and then on to the hospital to get my shot. |
| The folks at the open air hospital were a little surprised to see me there
and a little more surprised to find out that I wanted an injection.
Nevertheless the nurse took the prescription, filled her syringe and gave me the
biggest shot of penicillin that I've ever had. |
| In a couple of days I was on the mend. By the way the entire experience
took less than a couple of hours and cost less than $60. As I recall the
doctor's visit, the antibiotics and the injection each cost less than $20.
Further, the doctor was very apologetic that, since I was a foreigner, I was
going to have to pay for his attention, the medicine and the injection. |
|