What really happened in Grenada?

[Hopeful DO]

I am a 4th year pre-med student at NYIT and I was wondering what really happened in Grenada as a result of the hurricane? What were the real reasons that led to the decision to move students to U.S. locations?

I also want to say that before people start answering this, please be respectful of IMGs, Caribbean medical schools, etc. I goto NYIT in Long Island, New York, and I can say through my experience at NYIT that just because a educational institution is within the United States does not make it inherently better than any other learning institution anywhere in the world. Therefore for anyone to condemn Caribbean medical schools as being inferior is really giving off very arrogant, elitist vibes, which really have no place in the mindset of physicians. Furthermore, for any human being to have the oppurtunity to study medicine anywhere in the world is a real honor and great oppurtunity. What if we all grew up in the Caribbean, Asia, or Africa and decided to goto medical schools of our home country? How would we feel if some American students doctors looked down upon our schools?

Thanks for reading that everyone. I didn't mean to ramble. Just wanted to express my views.

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[Rdhdstpkd]

I am a 4th year pre-med student at NYIT and I was wondering what really happened in Grenada as a result of the hurricane? What were the real reasons that led to the decision to move students to U.S. locations?

I also want to say that before people start answering this, please be respectful of IMGs, Caribbean medical schools, etc. I goto NYIT in Long Island, New York, and I can say through my experience at NYIT that just because a educational institution is within the United States does not make it inherently better than any other learning institution anywhere in the world. Therefore for anyone to condemn Caribbean medical schools as being inferior is really giving off very arrogant, elitist vibes, which really have no place in the mindset of physicians. Furthermore, for any human being to have the oppurtunity to study medicine anywhere in the world is a real honor and great oppurtunity. What if we all grew up in the Caribbean, Asia, or Africa and decided to goto medical schools of our home country? How would we feel if some American students doctors looked down upon our schools?

Thanks for reading that everyone. I didn't mean to ramble. Just wanted to express my views.

Hi Hopeful,

I'm one of the many SGU students in Long Island and I'm happy to answer any questions about what happened in Grenada. On September 7th, Hurricane Ivan tore the island apart. In emergency management terms, there was 90% devastation, which is to say 90% of man-made structures were without roofs. Now, I would venture a guess that the 10% left out of this equation was the SGU campus. While a few buildings, mainly the VET school, were hit hard, most of the lecture halls and dorms only suffered broken windows and lost shingles.

This might not seem to be too terrible until you consider that only 60% of the student body lives on campus. My husband and I were off campus and we lost our roof, our car, and everything in between. (It was scary as hell!) So with 40% of the student body homeless the administration had a little problem to deal with.

Then you have infrastructure issues, both with the campus and the country. The campus has a generator and a desalination plant, however, fuel was regulated after the storm and so there were electricity issues. The desalination plant was eventually put on line, but with lots of broken pipes and valves from storm damage you couldn't always count on having water- drinking, showering, or toilet. For the first few days after the storm there was very little water around campus at all.

Now, fit this puzzle piece into the overall picture- what the country was going through. After the storm, over 18,000 Grenadians were homeless, and without the privledge of a generator or desalination plant. The country needs to rebuild and with food, fuel, water, and housing shortages, the presence of a couple thousand student who have a comfortable home to return to some place else seems a bit ridiculous. If we were to continue the semester, it couldn't be in Grenada. While waiting for the final word on where we would be relocated, many of us stayed on the island and took EMT shifts, helped rebuild housing, and went out on mobile clinics. When we found out we were coming to the states for school we moved our things out of the dorms to make way for homless staff and professional relief workers: engineers, public health, construction, etc.

The current plan is to return in January. The island needs us. We are 1/3 of their GDP; living in rented apartments, buying groceries, eating out, and spending our money in ways that help the island's economy. I will be happy to return. Although I greatly appreciate the opportunity to continue my semester and am thankul that NYCOM and SUNY have opened their facilities to us, I miss Grenda. SGU has top rate facilities on their campus and I appreciate them all the more now that I'm dealing with our current situation. We are using spaces that current students don't need so naturally they aren't as spiffy as what were used to (I'm assuming the actual labs for NYCOM students are quite nice ). All the NYCOM students have been perfectly friendly, so please don't take the comment the wrong way- it's just part of the situation.

So those are the reasons- plain and simple. I'm sure I probably left something out, and I'm sure some people would be surpised to learn that many of us can't wait to get back to our island. I'm happy to answer any question so please feel free to ask. And Hopeful DO, thanks to you and yours for welcoming us onto your campus

 

[danimastani]

Do you think that the SOM will become just like the way it was, come January and students won't have any issues?
I am asking because I was thinking about how the prospects look if I want to join for January 2005.
Thanks,
-Dani

 

[rokshana]

Hi Hopeful,

I'm one of the many SGU students in Long Island and I'm happy to answer any questions about what happened in Grenada. On September 7th, Hurricane Ivan tore the island apart. In emergency management terms, there was 90% devastation, which is to say 90% of man-made structures were without roofs. Now, I would venture a guess that the 10% left out of this equation was the SGU campus. While a few buildings, mainly the VET school, were hit hard, most of the lecture halls and dorms only suffered broken windows and lost shingles.

This might not seem to be too terrible until you consider that only 60% of the student body lives on campus. My husband and I were off campus and we lost our roof, our car, and everything in between. (It was scary as hell!) So with 40% of the student body homeless the administration had a little problem to deal with.

Then you have infrastructure issues, both with the campus and the country. The campus has a generator and a desalination plant, however, fuel was regulated after the storm and so there were electricity issues. The desalination plant was eventually put on line, but with lots of broken pipes and valves from storm damage you couldn't always count on having water- drinking, showering, or toilet. For the first few days after the storm there was very little water around campus at all.

Now, fit this puzzle piece into the overall picture- what the country was going through. After the storm, over 18,000 Grenadians were homeless, and without the privledge of a generator or desalination plant. The country needs to rebuild and with food, fuel, water, and housing shortages, the presence of a couple thousand student who have a comfortable home to return to some place else seems a bit ridiculous. If we were to continue the semester, it couldn't be in Grenada. While waiting for the final word on where we would be relocated, many of us stayed on the island and took EMT shifts, helped rebuild housing, and went out on mobile clinics. When we found out we were coming to the states for school we moved our things out of the dorms to make way for homless staff and professional relief workers: engineers, public health, construction, etc.

The current plan is to return in January. The island needs us. We are 1/3 of their GDP; living in rented apartments, buying groceries, eating out, and spending our money in ways that help the island's economy. I will be happy to return. Although I greatly appreciate the opportunity to continue my semester and am thankul that NYCOM and SUNY have opened their facilities to us, I miss Grenda. SGU has top rate facilities on their campus and I appreciate them all the more now that I'm dealing with our current situation. We are using spaces that current students don't need so naturally they aren't as spiffy as what were used to (I'm assuming the actual labs for NYCOM students are quite nice ). All the NYCOM students have been perfectly friendly, so please don't take the comment the wrong way- it's just part of the situation.

So those are the reasons- plain and simple. I'm sure I probably left something out, and I'm sure some people would be surpised to learn that many of us can't wait to get back to our island. I'm happy to answer any question so please feel free to ask. And Hopeful DO, thanks to you and yours for welcoming us onto your campus

I agree, with almost everything said, but my experience with NYCOM students(what few seem to even acknowledge us) and their administration is not so rosy. I don't understand why they even said yes to having us on campus, when its pretty obvious that we are certainly not wanted there. We can't use any on the facilities there and it was pointed out on numerous ocassions that we have to wear out student Ids (to make sure they didn't confuse us with the real NYCOM students)- I might have as well as wore a big fat A on my body. SUNY has been better, but bless their hearts, the State of NY must see SUNY Westbury as the red-headed step child of the SUNY system. I would rather be in post-Ivan Grenada than Long Island right now.
There is no conspiracy here Hopeful DO that we think NYCOM is a "better" school and used the excuse of a catagory 5 hurricane to infiltrate a US school- its where they put us and while some are happy about it, many are unsatisfied being here. I certainly did NOT see NYCOM roll out the welcome mat for us(unlike the other schools,like Barry(were SGU students were issued Barry IDs), N.C. State(which is housing SGU students in some of their newest housing on the Centennial campus), and Kansas State(where the students sent out mass emails to find available housing and students willing to take in SGU students)). My option of NYCOM and its student body(and the quality of the physicians that come from this school) is most certainly colored by my interaction(or lack thereof) with them.

 

[Rdhdstpkd]

I agree, with almost everything said, but my experience with NYCOM students(what few seem to even acknowledge us) and their administration is not so rosy. I don't understand why they even said yes to having us on campus, when its pretty obvious that we are certainly not wanted there. We can't use any on the facilities there and it was pointed out on numerous ocassions that we have to wear out student Ids (to make sure they didn't confuse us with the real NYCOM students)- I might have as well as wore a big fat A on my body. SUNY has been better, but bless their hearts, the State of NY must see SUNY Westbury as the red-headed step child of the SUNY system. I would rather be in post-Ivan Grenada than Long Island right now.
There is no conspiracy here Hopeful DO that we think NYCOM is a "better" school and used the excuse of a catagory 5 hurricane to infiltrate a US school- its where they put us and while some are happy about it, many are unsatisfied being here. I certainly did NOT see NYCOM roll out the welcome mat for us(unlike the other schools,like Barry(were SGU students were issued Barry IDs), N.C. State(which is housing SGU students in some of their newest housing on the Centennial campus), and Kansas State(where the students sent out mass emails to find available housing and students willing to take in SGU students)). My option of NYCOM and its student body(and the quality of the physicians that come from this school) is most certainly colored by my interaction(or lack thereof) with them.

I haven't had any issues with the students. In fact, the NYCOM students wanted to include us in a few of their of campus events, but the administration isn't really down with it- though a few possibilities for social interactions between the two groups are in the work. NYCOM has their own issues to deal with, including accreditation standards (involving ratio of facilities to students) and over crowding. I agree that security hasn't been friendly, but I don't blame NYCOM as much as I blame SGU for putting us in the situation. NYCOM has to protect their facilities and prioritize them for their students; that's the way it should be. Anyway, it doesn't matter so much now b/c we only have labs there. The situation has been steadily improving, and with midterms here, I think everyone is pretty much adjusted and on to worrying about other things. I do miss Grenada though.

As for the question about whether or not SGU will be the same in January- that's complicated. I believe the campus will be more or less back to normal. Our professors will be there and academically it will be the same. Will the overall experience be the same? Hardly. The island looks completely different and will have less to offer the students during their down time. I think this will change pretty quickly. I mean, they don't have much reason to open all the student hangouts when we're not around, but I bet things will begin to revitalize once we've been back for a bit. The only real concern I have is a since of claustraphobia that will be created on campus if there isn't anywhere to go. It will also be strange to increase the number of people living on campus. Part of the whole experience is 'living' IN grenada, not living on the SGU campus and never leaving the grounds- so in that sense the experience will definitely be different b/c Grenada is different.

 

[youngman]

sounds very interested. tell me more. can you use their anatomy labs, etc?

we almost got hit here at Ross. it makes me wonder what we will do if we are in the same situation.

 

[PKP719]

I heard a local prison in grenada was broken down during the hurricane and the prisoneers escaped ! Holy smokes .. ekkkk . I would be scared .

 

[rokshana]

I heard a local prison in grenada was broken down during the hurricane and the prisoneers escaped ! Holy smokes .. ekkkk . I would be scared .

the prison in St. George's was in pretty bad shape pre-Ivan, and during, well, it just fell apart. About 40 prisoners did escape, but they were all (I think, maybe like 3 weren't found) found and the really hardened ones were sent to St.Lucia to be held.
The crime in Grenada isn't all that violent - houses robbed and such(though there have been a couple of incidents in the last year or so, but more like muggings as oppoosed to people getting shot and killed), so the criminals aren't that bad. The biggest criminals were the ones who killed Bishop and they got them back.

As for NYCOM, so why don't the other schools act that way, hmmm?