Bermuda Triangle: Rock Fever, Hospital Refurb and Nursing Opportunity
Dorothy had a rough passage, on the winds of a ferocious tornado, to get to her Technicolor land of Oz. I visited a destination similarly colorful last week -- coral-blushed Bermuda. My voyage was a little easier --
Royal Caribbean Line's Grandeur of the Seas carried me safely through the Bermuda Triangle. On the other side of that famed geometric? The island author Mark Twain said he preferred to heaven itself.
So we're taking a (temporary) detour from a planned blog on a British nurse (we'll meet her later on) to visit an island jewel, embued with proper British charm.
High-End Economy
According to the CIA WorldFact Book, Bermuda enjoys the third highest per capita income in the world -- 50 percent higher than the US, thanks largely to off-shore banking/financial services and a continual influx of tourists.
Salaries are high -- the "average wage" is over $60,000 US per year. Just about everything -- except maybe fish chowder and rum cake -- is imported, so the cost of living is high, too. (A small, unfurnished, one-
bedroom apartment goes for about $3,200 per month!) But affluence is visible, even palpable. It's captured in pristine, pastel-painted, well-maintained island homes and manicured gardens bursting with hibiscus blossoms, all within sight of aquamarine waters.
Bermudian Insight
I shared a seat on a pink ( yes, pink) commuter bus with a woman named Sharon, a native Bermudian whose parents also had been born on the 22-mile-long island. Her grandparents ventured there from England at the turn of the last century, and never left. It's a story not unlike the shipwrecked Brits who made their way to Bermuda's shores exactly 400 years ago. When the opportunity finally arrived for them to return to their homeland, many stayed on the island, unwilling to forgo their newfound paradise.
As we wound along the South Shore, dotted with tiny coves and curving beaches to rival the best in the world, Sharon introduced me to a new "disease," known to islanders as rock fever. "That's what we Bermudians call it when we feel we just have to get off this rock!" she said with a hearty laugh. "Bermudians are great for traveling, we're known for it. In fact, many of us own homes in the states or in Europe. We love our island, but we are not bound to it."
In fact, Bermudians are also known for their far-flung shopping excursions, said Sharon -- to the Mall of America in Minnesota and to the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania, which happens to be about 2 miles from where I am sitting. "Consumer goods on Bermuda are extremely limited. Unless you want to wear British wool caps and British wool sweaters all year ‘round, you need to get off the rock to shop," she added.
To Your Health
"We're just starting to build a new hospital," explained Sharon, as we rounded a bend in Paget Parish, "and we need it badly." When I saw the tertiary King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) for myself, I couldn't help but agree. The 40-year old facility nearly begs for refurbishment. It was the only building I saw in need of fresh paint. According to www.bermuda-online.org/, "Of all the challenges facing healthcare in Bermuda, one of the biggest will be dealing with the aging hospital which has been the subject of ‘devastating' reports from independent consultants," including those from Johns Hopkins Medicine International. So a $315 million upgrade is now under way.
Ties with U.S. Hospitals
In the interim, Bermudian healthcare also ventures "off the rock," by necessity. Bermuda Hospitals Board 
(BHB) has forged partnerships in North America, proclaiming the move "a giant step toward becoming a global treatment centre." The connection comes by way of Partners Healthcare System, which links the island's providers with three Boston hospital centers. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute sends breast and urology cancer specialists to the island every 4-6 weeks for consultations. Massachusetts General Hospital provides expertise in trauma and acute complex emergency surgery, and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital provides rehabilitation know-how.
In addition, ties are being forged with Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. BHB hopes to "link to Johns Hopkins pre-eminence in cardiology, anesthesiology and critical care." And since Bermuda has no facilities for radiation treatment, BHB has proposed a partnership with Lahey Clinic Medical Center, Burlington, MA, allowing for remote consults, island visits and pre-therapy, on-site consultations by Lahey's radiology specialists.
Looking for a reason to give paradise a try? In Bermuda, there appear to be many openings for nurses. On its website, BHB currently lists openings at various island facilities for fulltime nurses in psychiatric, OR, PACU, ICU, ED, CCU, dialysis and maternity. Under Bermuda's Nurses Act of 1969, all nurses practicing on the island are required to renew their licenses on an annual basis. According to www.bermuda-online.org, the medical program at KEMH maintains an annual review and awards ceremony, sponsored by Merck Sharpe & Dohme. The international pharmaceutical company provides funding for awards, allowing the island to stay proactive in continuing nursing education.
On the Other Hand...
As for me, an afternoon on a pink sand beach, a lunch of sherry-and-rum spiked fish chowder, and a quote from Mark Twain are reason enough to visit. Twain (Samuel Clemens) by the way, spent a total of 187 days between 1867 and 1910 on Bermuda. In that time, he took such an interest in the island and its people, he helped raise money for the Bermuda Cottage Hospital, now the expanding KEMH. And along the way he muttered, "You can go to heaven if you want. I'd rather stay in Bermuda."