Residents who attended a forum on health hosted on St. Thomas Tuesday by Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christian-Christensen told her their major concerns were mental health and pharmaceutical needs, job availability for local nursing students, and lack of adequate nursing care facilities, according to the Daily News.
Eleanor Turnbull, mother of a mentally ill son, said there should be a place where mentally ill people living on the streets could go to just get a bath.
She said her son was too ill to keep at home, but that he is put out of the hospital every time a bed is needed.
Pharmacist Richard Dowling, one of the founders of the St. Thomas Pharmacists Association and the owner of Sunrise Pharmacy, said the government owes him $200,000.
Dowling suggested the Delegate work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to create a medical storage facility on St. Thomas in the event of a natural disaster.
Students from the Raphael O. Wheatley Skills Center wanted to know if there would be jobs for them on island when they graduate. Eugene Woods, chief executive officer of Roy L. Schneider Hospital, said the hospital wants to hire locally but is hampered by the cumbersome process for new hires, which can take up to a year.
Ophelia Torres, a discharge planner at the hospital, said there was no place for patients to go when they are ready to leave the hospital. Sea View and Lucinda Millin Home are filled, she said, and the island needs more nursing care facilities.
