Glimpses of Paradise

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Top 25 St Lucian Tidbits

 

Top 25 Tidbits & Memories of St. Lucia (in no particular order):

Kite Surfing

25) Hewanorra means "island of the iguanas"....this is the name of the airport so we flew in and out of iguanas

24) "Oye" means "hello". So yelling "Oye, Oye" at someone's front door doesn't mean you are exasperated

23) The "handshake" greeting here is a fist pound followed by lightly pounding the fist on your chest. This can either be done with a closed fist or a thumbs up fist.

22) Vieux fort, the city we were staying in most of our time in St Lucia, is one of the best places for kite surfing in the world.  This is due to the high winds from the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea meeting at the south end of the island.

21) St Lucia is the number one honeymooning location in the world.

20) Many locals have not climbed gros piton...perhaps this should have been a hint better taken before we climbed it ; )

St Lucian Flag

19) Their flag of simple shapes and colors holds a lot of meaning. The blue is the water, the black and white is for the black and white people of the island with the triangles representing the gros and petit pitons. The yellow represents the sun.

18) A double rainbow is not a hologram produced by the airplane as a special welcome-to-St.-Lucia-effect...ahem Frances :-)

17) When it comes to driving, left is right.

16) There is just 1 main road that goes around most of the island's border with many roads that go inland...this made navigation more "successful"

15) One should always walk backwards when wearing snorkeling flippers...Becca doesn't like laying on towels that have been "flipped on"

14) Billiards can only be paid for with the octagon shaped dollars (at least at the "Round the Bend Bar")

13) Heineken and Guiness cost the same as a Piton

12) When you order sausage on your pizza, you get hotdogs on your pizza

Buying Bread

11) They say never buy candy from a stranger, but what about bread?  In St. Lucia, the best bread comes from a stranger in a car

10) Greeting almost everyone you see is a way of life "good morning", "good afternoon", "good night" (this wasn't hard to get accustomed to, but we tended to say "good evening" instead of "good night" as that usually means sleep for us)

9) Don't ask Steph to come up with a blog title while falling asleep, as you will only get a word or two every five minutes.

8) Plantains are delicious!!

7) Don’t forget to turn the outlet ON after you plug something in

Gros Piton

6) St Lucian bugs looooove feasting on white people

5) All-inclusive resorts are free if you successfully sneak onto them (but don’t worry, we didn’t steal any food/drinks…just gorgeous beach time)

4) “Sweet and sour sauce” (i.e.-what we later found out was west Indian hot sauce) is sweet if you enjoy your head imploding and sour if you don’t. 

3) If you happen to find yourself wandering through a local village, you may find yourself being poked by children to see if the white will come off.

2) Don’t take anything for granted, especially things as simple as clean water.

1) St. Lucians are a loving and welcoming people and a great place to serve with physiotherapy!!

To end off, here are a few amazing recipes graciously given to us after we scrumptiously enjoyed them on our trip!

Green Fig Salad   Provided by Dr Francois

1)      Buy green bananas, not typical green bananas but ones from Mexico or other countries

2)      Peel them with a knife (too hard to do with your hands)

3)      Place them in water and boil for about 20 minutes, or until tender

4)      Simultaneously steam mixed vegetables

5)      Once cooked, combine the bananas & vegetables with mayonnaise

6)      Refrigerate until chilled

Easy Steamed Pumpkin   Provided by Tenderly

1)      Cut pumpkin to the size you want

2)      Discard seeds and pulp

3)      Boil until soft like a potato

4)      Eat :-)

Fried Rice    Provided by Ferhn

1)      Steam rice with some salt for about 15 minutes until soft but not sticky

2)      While rice is cooking, stir fry some garlic and onions in oil

3)      Add veggie mixture of grated carrots, cabbage, and chopped string beans or spinach until cooked

4)      Add salt to taste

5)      Then add rice to veggie mixture while still on the stove

6)      Mix evenly for 3-5 minutes

 

Chow From St Lucia! Thanks For Following!

Caribbean Peel Out

Last day at the stadium!

Last day in St. Lucia :( We can't believe how quickly the past two weeks have gone by. We had most of our things packed and re-packed (for those of us weighing in at greater than fifty pounds)! Steph had the heaviest carry-on, weighing 30 pounds, as her checked bag was 49.5 pounds! Barb's checked bag was the heaviest, coming in at 52 pounds! They were nice and didn't charge the $100 overweight fee...probably because she told them that she had one suitcase inside of the other!

Almost every day we saw coins on the ground. So often we would try to pick them up but they were frequently stuck in the asphalt. We learned that they don't operate by the US phrase "find a penny, pick it up, all day long, you'll have good luck." In St Lucia it is quite the opposite as picking up coins is actually bad luck. So Barb added some US coins to the local ground change to see if she could even out her luck.


We spent the morning at the hospital treating patients, since we didn't have to be at the airport until 1:30pm. We saw some outpatient and some inpatient. Steph and Fran got to use their chest PT skills learned in Dr. Kelly's class!! The doctors were very thankful when we educated them on head elevation when the patient has a nasal-gastric tube. Barb had the opportunity to interview two more St. Lucian's about the culture. Becca worked her butt off in outpatient treating pretty much all back injuries! 

Runway All Clear for Peel Out

Fresh Creole Bread in the Makin'

Overall, it has been such a wonderful experience! It is great to hear the patients thank us and tell us how much they appreciate our help. One thing that we were very impressed with, was the fact that most of the patients were very compliant with their home exercise programs. One woman told Steph, "I will do anything to get better and be healthy."




The goodbyes with the staff were bitter-sweet. We are all excited to go home, yet sad to be leaving, as we feel that we have been a great help and have helped make differences in the lives of many St. Lucian's. As we said our good-byes, so many people's asked if we could stay or come back soon. The St Lucian's are a loving and welcoming people! To paraphrase one gentleman who touched our lives, "I wish you blessings, I thank you for all you have done for our people, and will see you again on the other side."

On the way to the airport we stopped at the clay-oven bakery where all the creole bread is made that we by out of the car that beeps his way up and down the streets everyday.  Talk about bread at its freshest!! Our flight back to the States had a gorgeous view of countless Caribbean islands speckled in bright blue seas. No one was bumped to first class is trip...bummer...but most of us got to sit by each other. We met some wonderful people on the plane, one of which even graduated from Slippery Rock! The other people were staying at Coconut Beach Resort, right in Vieux Fort, and the daughter goes to East Stroudsburg University! Now, we get ready to go our separate ways...Steph and Becca to Newark and Barb and Fran to Pittsburgh. It has been great!

Caribbean Islands at Sunset

Look forward to our next blog which will include some cultural tidbits and awesome recipes for you all to try!

Check Out That Boo-Boo!

A view of the physiotherapy clinic after patients left

Last full day of work in the hospital :-(  The morning began with many people coming in for wound care, as usual.  While the physios took care of them, we took care of the rest of the patient load.  Having volunteers here has allowed the physio department to take on more of the capacity needed by the hospital and the people of Vieux Fort.  They otherwise have schedules that are too busy to meet all the needs there at this time.

Core stability demo

In the afternoon, Barb led one more in-service regarding scoliosis with demo inserts from the students regarding various core stability exercises that can be used.  It was a fun interactive time that somehow also included trying on each other’s Danskos shoes.  The team here is great and a lot of fun to work with.  Even though their schedules and workloads are heavy they always remember to have fun because they love what they do and truly care about their patients.   At the end of the in-service they graciously presented us with jewelry that was handpicked for each of us making it even more special. 

A view from the resort

After clinic we took a bus to one last beach trip before the sun went down.  We carefully moseyed into a private resort pretending to be guests to explore their gift shop and see if their beach was any nicer than the one down the way.  While sneaking from tree to tree Steph was spotted by one of her patients that worked there with his friends, who all had heard what a great job she had done in getting their co-worker back to work.  I think they are all ready to go to PT now ;-)  Frances was successful in her mission to find a piggy bank and we decided that although the view was a little nicer, there was very little beach to lay on so we hiked back to our normal spot with the kite surfers.  

Barb teaching a local girl how to swim

Steph and Barb dove straight into the water and were soon joined by an adorable local girl who was about 10 years old.  She knew how to swim the doggy paddle, but Barb taught her how to swim for more distance.  Upon getting out of the water she was commenting on all our scratched open bug bites and comparing them.  Without missing a beat Barb pointed to Becca’s right leg and said “check out that boo-boo!”  The poor girl’s mouth dropped open in a hilarious moment of dead silence not knowing what to think.  But soon the questions started pouring out about what happened, how it worked, and if Becca could walk, jump, and run.  She was apparently a visual learner because Becca had to prove she could do all those things as seen in the pictures.  We had a wonderful time with her as she entertained our last evening on the beach.   

Last meal at the Reef

We then headed in for dinner.  We felt it appropriate to have our last dinner here at the same place we had our first.  Becca and Fran thought it also appropriate to order the exact same entrée as well.  We stopped at the grocery store on the way back to our apartment for some last minute souvenirs and then began tackling the monumentous task of testing our baroreceptors trying to determine how much over 50 lbs our luggage will be.  

The night will end with finishing our long game of Phase 10!!!

Blessed!

The combined physiotherapy team for 2 weeks

What REALLY goes on in physio...FUN!! :-D

Fran working with a patient in home care

Paradise is not always paradise for those who live here! As a tourist to St. Lucia, one sees beautiful resorts and inspiring sights like Gros Piton, the waterfalls, the beaches… These make for a wonderful vacation but provide little to no insight into the actual country and the people we call St. Lucians!

St. Lucians are a beautiful people who are warm and caring but St. Lucia really is a developing nation where yes, there is wealth but there is also abject poverty. We have been able to glimpse into this society on so many levels.

Today, Frances and Barb accompanied Mr. Steve Joseph, from the Council for Disability on home care visits. In the US we are outraged when our patients are approved to receive only 5 or 10 home care visits. Here, in Vieux Fort, a home care visit is made when there is a physiotherapy volunteer. Subsequently, a patient might not be seen for even a year or so…

Our first patient had a severe stroke with resultant right hemiplegia 6-months ago. We were the first health care provider to see this lady since her hospitalization. Her family cares for her totally. She is carried from bed to the couch each morning and back each night. We had great difficulty getting her to stand; she has the potential but… we hope the family can put into place some of our recommendations.

Opening the door leading to an outdoor shower

Our second patient lived in a room around 200 sq ft with his wife. He is recovering from a severe brain injury. His spasticity is so severe. If only he could receive a script for baclofen and afford it, his function would be amazing. This gentleman worked so very hard. As we looked at his meager belongings, so very little, we were in awe at how much progress he has made. We used so many items in his apartment to do modified modified constraint induced therapy and bimanual training. We are sure when we left, he will have plenty to work on in the next few months! He was truly an inspiration and was so very thankful for the services we provided. He eloquently described his faith and putting God first!

We’ll only mention one more patient. As Mr. Joseph stated our next patient’s name, Frances and Barb remarked that we knew her! Yes, it was the same patient who told Frances she loved her when she was seen last week in the hospital. Too very cool! Frances had her work on balance and strengthening activities in the home and even walked her outside where she caught her and prevented a fall! Her shower was outside, down 4 steps, very uneven terrain with roosters and dogs en route to the outdoor shower enclosed in corrugated metal.

We are truly blessed and are not thankful enough for the things we take for granted!

And each of our patients were so grateful for what we did for them. We felt like it was nothing but to them, it was hope--a chance to recover!

Later that day, Barb said “good afternoon, how are you?” to a cleaning person in the hospital, she commented, “blessed!” 

Steph educating on kinesiology taping

Back at the clinic, Steph and Becca helped out the rest of the staff take care of all the patients there.  Then later this afternoon, Steph led the day's in-service with education on kinesiology taping (that fancy colorful tape you see on Olympic athletes). 

A view into one of our minibus adventures

After work we traveled via minibus to the fishing village of Dennery.  After receiving a personal tour by a nice young gentleman we met on the bus, we began exploring the little town on our own.  We were able to stop at a bakery, visit a church, meet several villagers, and watch the fishing boats come in for the day. It was comical for a toddler to come up to Barb and touch her skin then run away. Needless to say, being white, we were an anomaly in this village.

A view of Dennery, a local fishing village

We felt very blessed again as the sun was setting west of Dennery, we were 29 km away from Vieux Fort, and after about 30 minutes we were able to get a ride back to town!  

Upon arriving back at the apartment this evening we turned on the local Cricket match to try and figure out what all the hype is about.  It is very popular here and the semi-finals are being held up north in Castries where we explored on Saturday.  We have only been semi-successful at figuring it out by trial and error.  We eventually turned to Google which cleared things up quite a bit, as usual ;-) 

Jamaican Ackee

A view of the stadium from the jungled hills above

Week number two at the clinic has begun! We worked from 8:00am – 1:00pm in the clinic. There we continued to see a variety of diagnoses, some returning patients from last week. The young boy that we saw at the special needs school came in for a new orthotic fitting. Unfortunately, none of the knee braces fit, but Steph was able to heat up and mold a better AFO (ankle foot orthosis) to help with his walking. His mom informed us that she wants to go to physiotherapy school once her oldest son finishes secondary school (~2 years from now)! Fran got to work with a pediatric patient as well! She was adorable! The story is sad…she got hit by a car, which resulted in a sprained knee and disfigured/non-functioning finger. She asked Fran for a gift, so she can forever remember her! We don’t bring much with us to the hospital, so she was happy with the hair band that Fran gave her…it was precious! Barb had an interested case, in which she was also able to give AFOs to after molding to better fit his legs. Becca worked with a man that was in a motor vehicle accident, which resulted in decreased movement in his rib cage. Another woman Becca saw has been in a knee immobilizer since October and Becca worked on the importance of being compliant with her HEP (home exercise program), along with a lot of strengthening! While Frances and Steph tackled a complicated case, Barb was able to treat other patients in the open area of the clinic. We must say, we are learning a lot about how to treat spinal injuries as that seems to be very common down here.

At 1:00 pm a young man picked us up and drove us to the only government run senior care facility on the island.  We found that it used to be a mental asylum and that it is completely free to the residents.  The qualifications for admittance is being homeless.  There are only 60 people there showing a true dedication of the people of this country to caring for their elderly, which important to the family structure here.  While there, we educated 21 staff members consisting of management, RNs, and carers, which we believe are equivalent to nursing assistants. We instructed on body mechanics, transfers, ambulation, bed positioning, range of motion/mobility, and breathing.  We were amazed that so many of the staff members came in on their day off to listen to us talk.  It shows their true dedication to caring for the residents there!  They even presented us with certificates and had refreshments to show their gratitude.  We were blown away by their heartfelt appreciation for education. 

Teamworking the grapefuit pickin'

Homemade fresh bread!

Freshly peeled green banana

Carefully choosing Jamaican ackee

Fresh homemade bread straight out of the oven!

We then rushed home to get ready for our dinner date with Dr. François.   He is a head doctor of internal medicine here at the hospital, as well as the medical director.    He kindly invited the four of us as well as the 2 physiotherapists in the department for a home-cooked meal.  Upon arriving his hands were covered in flour as he welcomed us in.  He was baking us his special homemade bread made from 3 different flours.  We then were shown how to pick our own grapefruits and mangoes and Barb used the grapefruits to make fresh squeezed juice.  Then we began helping with dinner by learning how to slice green bananas for a fruit and vegetable salad.  We learned that you can’t just peel them due to their greenness and that it is extremely sticky!  Next up was learning how to pick Jamaican ackee…i.e.- very carefully.  You can only pick it off the tree once it has opened up to allow the cyanide gases and such to escape otherwise it is poisonous and can cause cirrhosis of the liver.  You must also clean it properly or similar damage can be done.  We let him do the picking before we all wake up with jaundice tomorrow.  We even performed physiotherapy on his dog’s leg that was totally malingering…he wouldn’t even touch his paw to the ground when we were looking, but would fully weight-bear on it when we weren’t looking.  The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, taking a swing at piano playing, enjoying fine food, and lots and lots of heartfelt laughter with some great people. 

We are having a fantastic time and feel extremely welcomed and blessed by the people here!

We Got High Today!

A view of Gros Piton from the Sugar Beach Resort

A view of southern half of island with the sea in the background

A view of Petit Piton and the northern half of island

That is we got high at Gros Piton where we climbed nearly 3,000 feet! The western island of St. Lucia has two large mountains. The Gros Piton reaches 2,619 ft while the Petit Piton is only 2,461 ft but a much more difficult climb. It was truly a beautiful day to enjoy this island from a lofty view. We were smart enough to get a trekking pole at the base of the mountain. The footing is tough and very difficult to get into a rhythm and impossible to reach a steady state. The ascent is physically challenging and the descent is tricky. It is roughly 2 miles up and 2 miles back down. The entire hike took about 5 hours with about 45 minutes spent exploring the views at the top. From one end you could view the entire southern end of the island all the way to the sea and from the other end we had a marvelous view of the neighboring Petit Piton as it drops off into the sea.  One of the guides we met was bragging that he could go up in 45 minutes and come down in 30 minutes and could run the whole way.  Whoa.

Just keep hiking....just keep hiking...

Each group that ascends this Piton (and Petit Piton) is required to have a guide. Barb decided the guides were the most in shape people we have met! No diabetes here!

Gros Piton is in the community of Fond Gens Libre (valley of free people). During the 1748 slave rebellion, Gros Piton was a “safe and secure haven” for the black freedom fighters. It is still difficult to find and is accessed along dirt roads with switch backs, bumps, and pot holes. Becca may take a job here as a taxi driver!

 

We then headed to find Jalousie beach as recommended by a woman we met along the hike from Holland. It too was well hidden. We were looking for Jalousie but it is now called Sugar Beach Resort. After a few times passing a broken sign reading “S U _____ Beach ____” we finally found it. There Becca, Frances, and Steph enjoyed a pizza while Barb enjoyed the beach. The resort life is quite luxorious. We sat at a restaurant on the white sand beach overlooking beautiful blue waters while each of the pitons overlooked us as they towered either side of the valley. The resort residents sat on plush elevated beach chairs and many donned snorkels for a better view of the pretty fishies.

Was a great day!