Feb. 4, 2003 – Virgin Islanders don't have to leave home to receive quality medical care was the message at a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday night at the Roy L. Schneider Hospital. And the hospital's chief engineer was the man of the hour.
Rodney Miller, the hospital's chief executive officer, said when he first took over the reins at Schneider hospital he and Darryl A.Smalls "got off on the wrong foot". However, Miller said, cheif engineer Smalls had made a "360 degree" turn around and had done an exemplary job of overseeing the $1.6 million worth of modernization to two units, which was the cause for the celebration.
Miller said the improvements were part of the commitment to making the facility a world class health center.
Beverly Chongasing, chairwoman of the St. Thomas/St. John Governing Board, added that patients weren't the only ones to reap the rewards of the improvements.
"Modernization of the facility makes it a more pleasant place to work in," Chongasing said.
She joked that she had told Miller she wanted to see "an opening every month" when he came on board. "I'll give him credit for two months," she said, "since we are opening two units."
Those two units are the third floor Child Health Care Unit and the fourth floor Medical unit.
Dr. Thelma Ruth Watson, medical director, said, "The Medical/Surgical Unit is as beautiful as in any hospital anywhere," adding, "People should no longer have that knee-jerk reaction that they have to travel off-island for medical care because we have a top facility here."
Improvements have been completed for phase one of the medical-surgical unit, according to Smalls, at a cost of just under $1 million. The modernization is slated to be done in three phases.
With phase one completed, Smalls said, phase two can begin after patients are relocated to the completed rooms.
The Maternal Child Health Unit modernization will eventually encompass all four sections in that area including, labor and delivery, pediatrics, obstetrics and the nursery. The completed improvements on the third floor so far cost "just over $600,000," Smalls said.
A crowd of close to two hundred guests wending their way through the corridors of the modernized units were met with immaculate, bright new tiles, fresh paint, brand new, contemporary nurses stations, in-room television sets, pale green cotton bedspreads and flower arrangements. But one of the truly unique additions was the local art hung along the corridors, including, photographs by Greg Miller, watercolors from Blue Turtle Gallery, Tillet prints and a huge Carnival batik in the lobby, loaned to the hospital by the Avalon Collection.
Other contributors to the hangings were Color of Joy, Down Island Traders, Hang it Up, Mango Tango and Sylvia Kahn.
Miller assured the crowd that the valuable, donated work was "bolted to the walls" and surrounded by security.
Hospital employees seemed excited and hopeful about what the improvements would mean for them.
One commented, "This is bound to improve morale."
Eileen Schneider, sister of former Gov. Roy L. Schneider after whom the facility is named, said she was ready and willing to come out of retirement to work at the hospital. In fact, she said, she already has lunch at the hospital every day.
"I'll do whatever they need me to do," she said. She was also complementary about the job Miller is doing. Holding her fingers to her lips and kissing them in a gesture of approval she said "And that Rodney Miller, well, he's the best."
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