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| Your health - the Holy Trinity |
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(Issue 3: April 2009) Jeff Trotman tells the extraordinary story behind St Vincent and the Grenadines’ new medical school. Dr Ed Johnson has been instrumental in the establishment of a new medical school on St Vincent – the Trinity School of Medicine.Following the closure of the Kingstown Medical College in 2007, Johnson, the former Dean of the institution, brought together a number of influential Vincentians, including the country’s Governor General Sir Frederick Ballantyne. In planning the Trinity School, Johnson, now Dean of the new college, recognised that the top North American medical schools were beginning to integrate clinical sciences into the basic sciences right at the start of its courses, and that by adopting this policy the new school could be on a level playing field with the Americans and ahead of many of its Caribbean competitors. “Dr Ballantyne and I began the search for a group of people who would come together to start a college on St Vincent to replace the Kingstown Medical College, and within a few months of its closure we identified a group who were looking for an appropriate site,” Johnson says, noting that Sir Frederick was a reputable cardiologist before becoming Head of State. He jocularly states that the group visited St Vincent and had no choice but to set up the medical school. “I showed them the hospital and the old campus, and they were immediately attracted to the environment. Sir Frederick was also able to demonstrate to the prospective owners the cordiality of the Vincentian people.” The name “Trinity” was chosen because of the religious parallels of the holy trinity and the fact that there were three initial Christian founders. There are now 10 founders involved in Trinity, but the ongoing sentiment remains true to its Christian heritage. Johnson is heartened that the institution has the full backing of the Government and people of St Vincent and the Grenadines. The good doctor feels Trinity has an important role to play in enhancing the image and economic fortune of the multi-island state. The school, which opened its doors in September 2008, is neatly tucked away on a steep hillside in the tranquil community of Harmony Hall, a few miles outside of the capital city of Kingstown. Trinity students are primarily from North America, but it has recently enrolled its first two Vincentians. Trinity offers a scholarship programme for Vincentians who meet its entrance qualifications. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to be able to do my first two years of medical studies in the comfortable cocoon of my native culture,” says Camelita Morris, one of the Vincentian students. Morris cites her enrolment at Trinity School as an act of Divine Intervention that called her to study medicine. She is aspiring to become a urologist, prompted by the increasing incidence of prostate cancer among Vincentian men. |
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