After a flight from Barcelona, train to London and then to Portsmouth, a ferry to the Isle of Wight, and a taxi to the staff accommodations at the hospital in Newport, I finally arrived! I think the journey ended up taking 12 hours and I traveled a distance equivalent to that from Charlotte to Boston.
The island is beautiful. It resembles Southern England in some ways but its higher temperatures and geography give it that scrappy, wind blown, sandy-type feel of our own beaches. St. Mary’s hospital--where I’m staying--is set on a hill overlooking the town of Newport and I can see rolling hills and white cliffs (like those in Dover) for miles. There are hordes of rabbits running around--at least 7 under my window right now--and they don’t seem afraid of me at all. I imagine that won’t last long. Occasionally I’ll see several hundred sea gulls stir up together from the hills in the distance and fly away somewhere. The human presence here seems more at harmony with nature than back home--or maybe nature is just more stubborn.
The island is actually really big so don’t ever trust Google Earth. It contains 147 square miles of farmland, developed areas, and coastline. Though it has no cities there are 7 sizable towns with Newport being the 2nd largest behind Ryde. 130,000 people live here in the winter though that tends to double or triple in the summer. A hill, where the Romans used to build their villas, runs down the width of the island for 24 miles dividing it almost equally in half. The northern half has clay like soil similar to North Carolinas and is unsuitable for farming but the southern half has incredibly rich land and all kinds of fun veggies are grown. There are 12 public, well kept beaches, many with white cliffs adjacent and at the western end there are a series of white spikes that jut into the ocean in series called the “needles.” Apparently this is where the island was connected to mainland Britain long ago.
The main employers on the island are the NHS, a factory that makes propellers and hovercraft, and sailboat construction. There are significant inequalities, a disproportionate elderly population, and a below average GDP so the public health aspect should be busy.
My objectives here will be to observe the workings of a nationalized health care system on a small scale, get a feel for public health, and contribute to the Cardiovascular Research Prevention Program which identifies risk factors and is targeted to undeserved areas.
I plan to explore Newport tomorrow and find food, entertainment, and glory!
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