Q: Dr. Hodge, welcome home. How long have you been back in Anguilla?
A: I returned home at the end of November 2015.
Q: When did you leave Anguilla in the first place to start your medical education journey, and tell us about that journey?
A: I completed 6th Form at the ALHCS in 2006 and decided to go to the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, USVI. I enrolled in 2006 and completed a BSc in Biology in 2009. I then was accepted at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine’s, Trinidad, where I commenced my medical degree in September 2009. After my first 3 years which were the pre-clinical, I transferred to University of the West Indies (UWI) at Mona, Jamaica for an additional 2 years to complete the Bachelors of Medicine and Bachelors of Surgery (MBBS). I completed my MBBS in 2014, after 5 years. I also obtained the degree in Basic Medical Sciences (BBMS) after completion of the 3 years in Trinidad. I then decided to complete my internship in the Public Health System in Jamaica – at the Kinston Public Hospital, the Victoria Jubilee Hospital for Women, and the Bustamante Hospital for Children. In that one year, I rotated through General Surgery, Neurosurgery, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Paediatrics.
Q: While you were doing your final 2 years in Jamaica, would you have also visited other hospitals and health facilities in other areas of Jamaica?
A: Yes, during the clinical years, although you are enrolled at UWI and doing courses through the University Hospital of the West Indies, you have to rotate through a number of hospitals depending on which course you are doing. So I rotated through Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, Mandeville Regional Hospital, Spanish Town Hospital and also spent some time in St. Elizabeth where I did my rural experience through community health at two hospitals there.
Q: Did you also visit clinics in addition to the hospitals?
A: Yes, Most clinics are attached to the hospitals.
Q: Do you feel then that your experience gave you a good exposure to practically the entire health services in Jamaica?
A: Yes, the programme offered at UWI is a very comprehensive one in which I was exposed to primary, secondary and tertiary care, and I feel that my training there has prepared me adequately for my career. I started my internship in August 2014 and completed it in August 2015.
Q: Why did you choose the public health system?
A: Once you were staying in Jamaica, you would choose what hospitals you wanted to work in depending on where you lived and how hectic the work schedule you wanted. Although both the University Hospital UWI and Kingston Public Hospital are large hospitals, Kingston Public Hospital provides health care for the entire country, you get transfers from everywhere, it is public whereas the University Hospital is partially private and partially government subsidized. So you do gain more hands-on experience in the Kingston Public Hospital and it certainly did help me become more confident in my clinical skills with the hope of returning to practice in Anguilla.
Q: The Women’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital, what is different about them? We don’t have any such hospitals in Anguilla which deal with only one type of patient.
A: The Victoria Jubilee Hospital, which is one of the largest if not the largest women’s hospitals in the English-speaking Caribbean, deals with gynaecological and obstetrics cases, there is an oncology (cancer) firm attached to the hospital, as well as a teenage clinic and an STD unit. It deals with pregnancy and delivery cases, and averages 9,000 to 10,000 births per year.
Q: Would you have participated in some of those births/deliveries?
A: Yes, it’s a requirement for Obstetrics and Gynaecology in med school to complete a number of deliveries and when doing your internship you are attached to the Labour Ward where you have to assist in emergency C-sections as compared to when your team does scheduled C-sections, assist in or do deliveries, and suturing. On my own, I probably did about 25 deliveries at Victoria Jubilee, plus about 15 when I was in med school.
Q: So you came back to Anguilla in November 2015? And something happened on the way back?
A: Yes, I had a baby, a son born in the USVI on November 1, and then came home. I began working with the Health Authority of Anguilla on February 1, 2016 at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, where I am currently attached to the ward on internal medicine, after this I will rotate through the various specialties or different areas at the Hospital, whether they be Emergency Room or in the Health Centre.
Q: You have now been practicing here for about 6 or 7 weeks. Can you give us a comment on your experience to date?
A: So far I am enjoying it, I am glad to be home and giving back to my country – through offering my services to my country. The first thing that struck me after my second week or so was that there are a number of patients who had complications secondary to chronic illnesses/diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. I saw a number of patients with amputations, a number of patients on dialysis, with blindness, etc. I had to ask the question why are we seeing so many persons with these complications? We have clinics in every district, we have access to medications, and I know that there have been educational campaigns. So why is it so we are having so many complications? That is also a question that the Health Promotion Unit and Primary Health Care Unit have been asking as well. I am hoping that we get a handle on this because these complications are preventable once patients take their medications. So it seems there is a huge issue with compliance here – compliance with medications, compliance with prescribed health care.
Of course, I am also concerned that while I was in med school there has been an escalation in crimes involving gun violence which cause serious injuries. Since I have returned, I have noticed that there have been a number of persons with injuries secondary to motorbike accidents, and I read recently that the Police are now enforcing laws against stunts being done by these individuals – some of whom are not wearing proper headgear which can lead to serious complications and even fatalities. I hope that the laws are not just being written but they are enforced so that such incidents can be prevented.
Q: Now that you have given birth to your own baby, has this validated any of your learnings or has it been a totally mind-opening experience for you?
A: I would say it was a bit of both. Of course you learn about it in class, then you have to do the deliveries and give the patients their instructions. But it’s not until you go through childbirth yourself do you really understand what your patients have been going through. So it has taught me to be even more compassionate or empathetic with patients who are in labour because now I know what it is to go through it.
Q: Do you intend to further your education and perhaps specialize in some area?
A: Yes it is my intention to do so, I have always wanted to do Obstetrics and Gynaecology and my heart is still in it. I love Obstetrics and Gynaecology, I can remember at age 10 saying on radio that I wanted to become a doctor, and it was with that field in mind. I remember going on a visit to Dr. Singh with my mother who was pregnant and he allowed me to listen to my baby sister’s heartbeat which influenced me to be a doctor.
Q: Do you have any word for persons who perhaps would want to pursue medicine as a career?
A: I would encourage any person wanting to do medicine to first of all look into their options. I realize that in the past, most persons from Anguilla went to the USA (England is becoming more popular) to do medicine, and I would like to inform them that there are other options. UWI is one of the top schools for medicine, since its inception in 1948 it has turned out thousands of doctors who practice all over the world, and it is always said that doctors trained at UWI have been well trained and are excellent on doing clinical examinations. There are other options other than the USA, UWI is an excellent school, do your research, and if you are interested in medicine go for it! It’s a very rewarding field, if you love it then you will enjoy it. You meet many persons, you hear many stories, and you touch many lives. I enjoy what I do, I love my job.
Q: Do you have anything to say about your preparation for medical studies at UWI?
A: I attended 6th Form at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School – funny story, I wanted to drop out after my first year. I was encouraged to stay and complete my studies by my parents and by Mrs. Anita Ruan, and I would like to thank them for encouraging me to stay because I never will know where I would have ended up or what would have happened to my educational development had I dropped out. Because I was always interested in going to med school, I chose the sciences in High School and at 6th Form which prepared me well for my Biology degree at UVI. While at University of the Virgin Islands I did research, I also enjoy doing research, I was encouraged by my professors to go to graduate school but it was always my plan to return home and I felt I would be able to contribute more to my country through medicine than if I had done research. UVI is an excellent school as well, it provided me with the basic knowledge necessary for med school and is a great option if you want to stay close to home, and it is affordable.
Because I have travelled and lived in 3 different countries in the past 10 years, I have spoken to a lot of colleagues, classmates, med students, and after comparing education systems abroad to us here, I must commend our Education Department here because when we graduate from High School we are well-rounded students. Prior to fairly recently in Anguilla, when we got our 1’s or when we passed our CXC exams it was due to the work that was done in school by our teachers and work done at home by ourselves, compared to Jamaica and Trinidad where students have gone from Grade 1 all the way through taking after-school classes in order to get those 1’s.
Q: Any final statements?
A: I am very glad to be back home and to contribute to my country as a Doctor, and would like to say a big thank you to all who have assisted me in some way to allow me to do so.
