“What
was that?” I said, jumping up and dashing outside. The loud crash had all of
our friends running to the same location.
That was Lawrie. He had missed his footing on a short flight of stairs leading
from the patio at Casa Dia to the beach. He had done a one-eighty flip mid-air
and smashed backwards into an aluminum gate. His head bent the slats, and the
force of the blow knocked the locking mechanism off the gate and onto the beach.
Anyone who has had a head wound knows they bleed profusely. There was blood
everywhere.
Fortunately, he was conscious, talking, and breathing okay. He could sit up on his own, and
there weren’t any signs of broken bones or smashed ribs, so we gently moved him
to a chair to get a better idea of his injuries. Then we called our favourite island
physician, Doctor Greta Shorey.
Born
and educated in Britain, Dr. Shorey has lived primarily on the island since
1988. Her son and daughter were born on Isla. Dr. Shorey speaks English,
Spanish, Arabic, and French, although she admits the French words get tangled
up with Spanish on occasion. She has been trained in five specialties, including
obstetrics,
gynecology, pediatrics, tropical diseases, emergency medicine, and is a General Practitioner. She spent three months of her final year of studies
working in Africa.
Doctor
Shorey quite recently returned to the Island after spending 11 years in Abu
Dhabi, starting in a large Canadian-run hospital. She worked as a General
Practitioner, very involved in teaching the junior doctors. To keep a balance
with working in that modern, well-equipped, rich facility, she also joined the
Red Crescent, doing relief work in Pakistan and with refugees in the border
area between Jordan and Syria.
A few years ago, the municipality named
her Woman of the Year on Isla Mujeres for her dedication to helping families
with young children who require medical assistance.
As her very good friend and
long-time islander, Lindell Lehrer said, Doctor Shorey is the only foreigner to
be honoured in this way.
And, fortunately for us, she makes
house calls!
Our ex-firefighter pal, Chuck
Watt, took great care of Lawrie while I called Dr. Shorey and explained what
had happened and how to find us. We weren’t at home, but were a few houses away
having dinner with friends, or about to have dinner, I should say, until Lawrie’s
impressive display. She arrived quickly and set to work doing a full checkup
that lasted over an hour. Then she bandaged the large, messy gouge in his head and
sent him home with instructions to call if at any time he was having difficulty
breathing or was distressed in any way.
Her clean, modern clinic is on the
western side of the island, near the Salinas Grande. She charges a mere 500 pesos (about $25.00 USD or $34.00 CDN) for an extensive office visit or
a house call. Unfortunately, some foreign visitors are under the impression that
her services are free. Not so. She has expenses: staff wages, utilities, taxes,
equipment purchases, and the ongoing restocking of supplies. Besides paying her
extremely reasonable consultation fee, you might also consider contributing to
her cookie-jar fund to help less fortunate islanders who can’t afford the
medications they require.
Since Lawrie’s fall, Doctor Shorey
has come to our house every morning to check on her acrobatical patient. He was stiff and sore from head to toe, and uncomfortable riding in a
bouncy golf cart, but otherwise doing well. The outcome could have been much,
much worse.
His
gate-crashing was a dramatic way to entertain a small group of family,
friends, and neighbours gathered at Casa Dia for a pre-Christmas get-together.
Thank goodness he has a hard head. The following morning, we received a care
package of dinner goodies from our hosts, Brent Curley and Day Grey,
including a plate of cookies. Yum!
Thanks
to everyone who was so caring and helpful. Lawrie says he has to work on sticking the landing before he tries
that mid-air flip maneuver again.
Cheers from paradise,
Lynda & the Gymnast
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