The general medicine and primary care practitioners are doing the best they can with their limited resources. For example, there is an oncology infusion center, but no infusion treatment for rheumatology patients. (An infusion nurse is scheduled to come to Bermuda to help set up a suite and train personnel.)
After the first couple of trips, she’d already seen 20 to 30 patients who were past due to begin biologics. “There is no reason not to be on biologics in 2016,” she says. The opportunity to set up clinical services and help bring other specialists, like the pulmonologist who’s started coming, to the island is rewarding. All the tools are starting to come together, according to Dr. Bunin: the infusion center, specialists and up-to-date drug treatment.
“It’s exhausting, but interesting. You can feel good about what you are doing. The patients are so grateful. When she hears comments like, “You’re saying I won’t have to live with pain like this for the rest of my life?” she tells them, “You’re going to love this.”
Ann-Marie Lindstrom is an independent writer and editor based in the Tucson, Ariz., area.
