Sick

I have my annual spring cold. (I get two - one in the spring and one in the fall. My poor body just eventually can't handle the yo-yo-ing temperatures.)

Being sick on Ocracoke is a bit different than in larger towns. First, because of our size, illness travels fast and many people therefore make an extra effort not to "share". In that vein, I skipped several group activities today: exercise class (of course, the fact that I felt awful this morning made missing the workout a simple choice), reading to the first graders, and one of my favorite annual events - Homecoming.

Another way that illness is different here is in cases of acute or emergency health issues. People often ask me about health care on the island. I answer that there are three tiers.
- If you're just sick or mildly hurt, the Health Center is a great resource and can take care of most minor illnesses or injuries (Dr. Moore there stitched me up when I cut my finger last summer).
- If you break a leg (or something else), the EMTs and Paramedics on the island can get you stabilized and then you get a long ambulance ride up the beach to the hospital in Nag's Head.
- If you have an immediately life threatening issue, like a heart attack or stroke, you get an expensive ride in a helicopter to get you to a larger hospital (Pitt County Memorial in Greenville is one option) as quickly as possible. For this reason, any time I hear a helicopter, I pray that it's not coming in response to a health emergency.

I'm heading to bed now (cold medicine is a marvelous thing). Stay healthy, wherever you are...