June 26, 2002 – Medical students from American University of the Caribbean in Sint Maarten are now part of the Roy L. Schneider Hospital team. "These are the future leaders of the health care field," Rodney E. Miller Sr., hospital chief executive officer, said.
He said he hopes some of the students will return to work at Schneider Hospital after they get their medical degrees.
According to Deanna Smith, assistant to the hospital board, Sint Maarten students have been getting training at the hospital for about a year. "They come and go," she said, under a six-year agreement with American University of the Caribbean.
In addition to serving the students' needs, Miller said, the program also provides an opportunity for the hospital's physicians to train future doctors. He said none of the students are Virgin Islands residents. They are working in basics such as surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and in medical subspecialties that include radiology, gastroenterology, emergency room, nephrology and neurology.
The hospital previously had a partnership with American University of the Caribbean that ended after Hurricane Hugo hit in 1989, Smith said.
Miller said he is working on setting up a similar arrangement with a major teaching hospital on the U.S. mainland.
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