聖露西亞短期醫療服務感想-雲林基督教醫院急診醫學科 唐家沅醫師
Saint Lucia known as the “Helen of the West” is located in the middle of Eastern Caribbean. The island is 616 sq kilometers (about 1/53 of Taiwan’s territory) with population of 170，000. English is the official language， however a French based dialect “Patois” is widely spoken. That is remarkable in this island had two Nobel Laureates， they are Derek Walcott in literature (1992) and Sir Arthur Lewis same prize in economy in 1979.
There is two towering volcanic cone called Gros Piton (797m) and Petit Piton (750m)， those are one of most Caribbean’s most famous landmarks. We went to climb the Gros Piton during one of our trips. Also we went to “Sulphur Spring”， it is the only “drive in
volcano” in the world and we had our medicinal mud bath there.
The place we went to called San Jude Hospital， it is a 70 beds general hospital founded since 1966 by catholic nuns， in 1992 it was hand over to St Lucian government but on 9th of September 2009 is was devastated by a cruel fire， however hospital was moved to a nearby stadium within 24 hours it opened again to the public. In this hospital I worked at ER we attend 30 patient per day， and most of my colleagues are Cuban medical school graduated some of them had their specialty training in developed countries such as USA， Israel， Holland etc. I found them hard workers， they performed with professionalism and passionate toward our patients， they strive “Rising from the Ashes” to give the best medical care even with limitations due to lack of CT scans， MRI which are fundamental for the emergency physician to make an accurate diagnosis. Hopefully the new hospital under construction will finish next year. I would like say thanks to everyone we met during this trip， especially to those I quote in the following:
To my team members without their cooperation and comprehension we cannot make this mission possible. Our ER coworkers especially to Dr. Patrick Joseph a well Israel trained ER physician， Dr. Dohr the senior house officer (equivalent of our chief resident) who taught me a lots of communication skills without commanding which I usually does. Kamala and other logistic officers with them we can just do our jobs not worry about other small issues like potable water and food supply. To our Taiwanese Embassy to our Ambassador Mou and secretary Luo. To my lovely wife， she took all the responsibilities back home with my kids， hopefully she will continue support this noble cause.
Finally I want give my appreciation to our friend Cauthy， he offered his service and car to take us around the island， by the meantime， we had a lots of culture exchanges， he taught me how to speak “Patois”， even he is over 70 years old but he has spirit of teenager， he installed an extra speaker in the hatchback of the car， we enjoyed local music like Soca， Reggae， Calypso etc with full volume which we can feel the vibration of the vehicle， he always tell me “ If you feel the music loud that because you are too old”， for me that is the essence of the St Lucian people their happiness is contagious.