CAY HILL, Sint Maarten – St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) recently expanded their neurological services with the addition of a new permanent neurologist Dr. Carmen Marques and two new, fully functional state of the art neurological diagnostic machines; an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine and an electromyography (EMG) machine.
SMMC welcomed a new permanent Neurologist to its team recently, Dr. Maria del Carmen Marques Casasnova who hails from Ciutadella, Spain and joined the SMMC team a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Marques began her tertiary education in medicine at the University of Barcelona in 1985. She went on to complete her residency in Internal Medicine which she followed with a degree in the specialty of Neurology. Upon the completion of her residency, she practiced as a General Neurologist in various hospitals in Barcelona, Mallorca and Menorca. After practicing for many years, in 2019 Dr. Marques decided to pursue yet another degree; this time in Tropical Neurology and Infectious Diseases at the International University of Catalonia in Spain.
When asked about her reasons for moving to St. Maarten Dr. Marques responded, “my personal circumstances allowed me to be able to take on this new professional challenge. My three children are now adults in university and I have always been curious to travel to and work in places outside of Spain and I finally have the opportunity to do so. I have been working on St. Maarten for a little while now and I have been working with my colleague Dr. Rico and the Patient Care department to increase neurological services here on the island which includes the instating of permanent outpatient neurological consultation, admitting patients with certain neurological complaints instead of sending them abroad, collaborating with psychiatrists and other medical specialists and keeping in close contact with family doctors.”
“Some of the issues we see on the island are strokes, dementia, epilepsy, headaches, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease and my goal is to be able to contribute to the neurological care and wellbeing of patients on the island and trying to reduce the number of off-island referrals when possible. I am also very excited that SMMC now has an EEG machine and an EMG machine to be able to further aid in the treatment of local patients” concluded Dr. Casasnovas.
EEG machines help neurologists and neurology diagnostic technicians diagnose epilepsy, sleeping disorders, strokes, tumors, diminished levels of consciousness and other brain disorders and can be used during surgery to gauge the depth of anesthesia. These machines also lend assistance to Internists, Intensivists, Anesthesiologist and Psychiatrists in the evaluation, care and treatment of patients.
EMG machines evaluate and record activity in the skeletal muscles. It analyses the neurological activation of muscle cells and can be used to detect abnormalities such as motor control disorders or neuromuscular diseases. Traumatologists, Rheumatologists, Internists, Endocrinologists, Oncologists and Hematologists also rely on this machine for evaluation.
This is the first time SMMC is able to carry out the aforementioned diagnostics as it requires specific machines and a specific skillset and this plays a role in the further reduction of off-island referrals for neurology patients. SMMC is proud to have Dr. Marques in service and urges patients interested in a consultation to make an appointment by calling the Outpatient Department at: Tel: +(1-721) 543-1111 ext. 1378 or 1379. Appointments can be made from Monday – Friday between 8:00 am – 4:30 pm. SZV patients are requested to obtain a referral letter from their family doctor.
