Great news for St Croix! Liberty Medical Development announced that it has closed on financing for full development of its ambulatory surgical center facilities at Estate Diamond, St. Croix, in the former Innovative building.

Total capital funding for the project is in excess of $5 million, of which more than $1.25 million has already been invested, according to the announcement.

Liberty Medical Development LLC is a U.S. Virgin Islands limited liability company and beneficiary under the Virgin Islands Economic Development Program.

The surgical center will offer operating and surgical procedure rooms with clinic offices for several local medical practices. Due for completion in about eight months, the center will employ at least 14 full-time workers.

The ambulatory surgical center will be fully accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care and will house practices specializing in orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, general surgery, cardiology, oral surgery, and dentistry, according to information provided by Liberty.

Participating physicians include Dr. Anne Treasure, Dr. Byron Biscoe, Dr. Duane Jones, Dr. Renee Georges, Dr. Jeffrey Chase, Dr. Horace Griffith and Dr. Alexander Lenard.

Currently, Plessen Healthcare, a newly built multi-speciality outpatient medical center, is providing many of these services, and has been a wonderful resource since Hurricane Maria damaged the Juan Luis hospital.

GotoStCroix recently featured information on them, so thanks to Jennie Ogden, Editor, for the following info:

Founded by Dr. Jan Tawakol and Dr. Tasnim Khan, Plessen Healthcare and Plessen Medical Group are working to improve local healthcare on St. Croix and to attract medical tourism to the island. With a new facility and an expanding patient base, Plessen hopes to also attract more specialized medical professionals to St. Croix which will expand the medical services available here on the island.

Their physicians and nurse practitioners offer a wide range of general services and internal medicine subspecialties dedicated to chronic disease prevention. Their goal is to provide healthcare management systems that prevent chronic disease, slow the progression of existing conditions while providing high quality care and facilities for all stages of chronic diseases. They provide both traditional preventative treatments as well as holistic approaches for comprehensive care that addresses early prevention.

The Plessen Medical Group provides adult primary care, women’s health services, and general health maintenance services, but the clinic also specializes in internal medicine and management of chronic illnesses like hypertension and kidney disease. Plessen also offers a host of subspecialties, including: Nephrology, Interventional Nephrology, Hypertension, Electrolyte Disturbances, Acute & Chronic Kidney Disease, Dialysis Access Care, 24 hour Blood Pressure Monitoring, and Spirometry Lung Function Testing. The facility also includes an optical shop and a fully accredited Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC), which is currently offering much needed ophthalmologic services. They started the ASC with an emphasis on cataract and glaucoma procedures in order to address a backlog of almost 800 residents in the USVI needing “urgent eye surgery”. The ASC was also recently approved to perform vascular surgery, and Plessen has plans to expand and offer other specialized surgeries in the near future.

If you are looking for an efficient and committed healthcare provider, Plessen is the best place to start. Here are some important facts you should know about Plessen Healthcare and some of the special services they offer:

• Plessen accepts Medicare and most major insurance. For those with little or no insurance, Plessen does offer patient financing support.
• The Plessen Medical Group and ASC are centrally located just outside of downtown Christiansted in the lower level of the Government Employee Retirement System Building in Golden Rock.
• Plessen is set up to be a Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH). For those not familiar with this concept, it is a care delivery model that allows patient treatment to be coordinated and centralized through a primary care physician to ensure that you receive the necessary care when and where you need it. Basically, this means Plessen will coordinate and keep your medical records from all of your doctors and specialists, schedule recurring appointments or lab work, provide referrals, and more.
• For those traveling to St. Croix for treatment at Plessen, they will arrange transportation to and from the seaport or airport for your convenience.
• The Plessen medical staff offers House Calls to hotels that partner with them, currently The Buccaneer and Chenay Bay Beach Resort.

Now that you have decided to visit Plessen for yourself, how do you go about making an appointment to set up your healthcare? Dr. Tawakol offered some very helpful suggestions to make your patient transition into the Plessen Medical Group seamless:

1. Contact Plessen Medical Group ahead of time so that they can provide you with the proper Medical Record Release and Patient Registration forms, and get you set up as a patient in their electronic system. To contact Plessen call (340) 227-4255 or visit their website at www.plessenhealthcare.com/contact.html.
2. Have your doctor’s office(s) fax your medical records/history to Plessen on their HIPPA compliant fax line at (949) 222-2719, where it will be saved directly into your electronic patient file.
3. Schedule your first appointment a couple of weeks in advance so that the Plessen staff can provide you with paperwork to get any necessary lab work done, and have the results submitted back to the Plessen Medical Group, before your first appointment.

Whether you were born and raised on St. Croix, you are moving to the island, or you are willing to travel for quality medical care here in the Caribbean, Plessen Healthcare will take excellent care of you.