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Saturday, September 17, 2005 - HELPING HEAL AN ISLAND
Two local doctors hoping to reform healthcare in Antigua
By Deborah Lynn Blumberg | Gannett New Jersey
FRANKLIN (Somerset) -- In the Caribbean island of Antigua, people in need of surgery have just one option -- Holberton Hospital, where after operations, doctors wheel patients across an outdoor walkway to the ICU, and the sick rest in rooms without air conditioning.
But two local doctors active in health-care reform hope to help change that.
John and Alieta Eck, founders of the Zarephath Health Center, which provides free health care to Central Jersey's uninsured and underinsured, was scheduled to meet Friday with the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda to discuss their role in helping improve healthcare in Antigua.
The Ecks opened Zarephath Health Center in 2003 and also run a private practice in Piscataway.
Earlier this year, chance led the doctors to learn about a new, modern, but unopened 200-plus bed hospital in Antigua. A colleague at Somerset Medical Center heard about the facility from his pastor, Chris Pierce of Somerville's Reformed Episcopal Church, who learned about the hospital from a fellow pastor, an Antiguan who leads a congregation in the Bronx.
The Antiguan government did not have the funds to open the facility. Eager to help islanders and to find a top-rate, but inexpensive facility for uninsured Americans in need of pricey surgeries, the Ecks offered to help equip and operate the medical center.
"The former government had built this enormous new facility, but they had no means to run it," Alieta said about Antigua's Mount St. John's Hospital. "So there it sat like a white elephant on the top of a hill."
The Ecks' doctor friend, orthopedic surgeon Albert Johnson, put them in touch with Rev. Pierce, who had since been to the island after helping coordinate a donation of medical supplies to Holberton Hospital.
The three spoke with Antiguan consul general McChesney Emanuel and last month flew to Antigua where Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer commissioned them to develop a business plan for the new nonprofit hospital by December.
"It's an amazing series of events and all came to be because of one conversation," Pierce said. "The Antiguan people are very generous and kind and you can't help but love them," he said. "We're just thrilled to be able to help."
The Ecks hope the new facility will better serve Antiguans while also catering to medical refugees, those unable to afford healthcare in their own country.
"People can go abroad and have things done for less," said Alieta, who in 1995 sent a low-income patient in need of a hernia operation to Ecuador, where the surgery, hotel room and airline ticket totaled $2,400. Without insurance, the same procedure could cost up to $14,000 in the United States, John said.
The preliminary plan for the new hospital includes creating a staff of Antiguans, recently retired American physicians and American doctors who have stopped practicing medicine because of the rising costs of malpractice insurance. Any excess money earned at the facility would be spent on low-income patients, Alieta said. The project will also involve making improvements to Holberton Hospital.
"We'd love to find some recently retired hospital administrators to go down," Alieta said. "We're looking for people who are not just interested in making a lot of money, but people looking to do the right thing."
Anyone without health insurance would be able to receive care at Mount St. John's, which the Ecks envision as a top-notch facility.
The hospital was built to withstand a category five hurricane. Four nonstop flights run daily from Newark to Antigua for $600 round trip.
The couple is working in conjunction with Dr. William Sandberg of the University of California's Moore School of Business and a team of five graduate students on the business plan. Pierce contacted Sandberg about the project; the two met last December when Pierce officiated at Sandberg's mother's funeral in Upper Montclair.
"We have great hunger from many of our students for projects that involve international trade and business abroad," Sandberg said. "The chance to bring about a substantial improvement in medical care in Antigua is a great attraction. This is a wonderful opportunity," he said.
In the next few months, the Ecks will meet Sandberg and his team in Antigua to develop the plan. Students will speak with business people, physicians and community leaders in Antigua and conduct additional research in the United States. The Antiguan government hopes to open Mount St. John's by 2007, the year the country will host the cricket world cup, Alieta said.
Ultimately, the Ecks see the hospital as a mecca for anyone frustrated with health insurance: Canadians unable to wait for their turn for surgery, or residents of other Caribbean islands unable to pay for treatment in the United States.
The hospital could even serve as a meeting spot for patients and doctors who are otherwise unable to connect. A young burn victim John met in Peru, for instance, could receive care in Antigua from a volunteer U.S. doctor, Alieta said.
"We really care about the poor and people who are in need," said Alieta, who hopes to receive financial support by December from venture capitalists and companies interested in the project. "Hopefully by then people will have caught on," she said.
from the Courier News website www.c-n.com