Born in the Virgin Islands, the 35 year old hospital employee’s career began straight after high school graduation at the early age of 15, when she took a role at Peebles Hospital as an Allied Technician. “My duties included assisting pharmacists with prescriptions and aiding the physiotherapist in the treatment of patients,” said the Young Professional. “It was at this time that I was first exposed to the world of physiotherapy.”

Ms. Leslie, now a fully qualified Physiotherapy Manager supervising a team of three, explained: “I manage and plan the physiotherapy service for the British Virgin Islands Health Services Authority. This entails planning the provision of any new physiotherapy services, making sure maintenance is provided to that section of the hospital, meeting with any international companies or bodies that come to the hospital with relation to my profession; anything to do with the provision or planning of physiotherapy services.”

To acquire the position the Young Professional has achieved, she completed a BA in Anthropology with a specialization in Human Biology at Temple University, Philadelphia, USA in 1994 and qualified as a physiotherapist in 1998 with a BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy from the University of Brighton in England.  Subsequently, in 2000, she received her MSc in Physiotherapy and Management from the University of Brighton in England.

Ms. Leslie, who has been in her current post as Physiotherapy Manager since 2002, said “I have been encouraged along the way to do new things and progress intellectually by my family, especially my mother.”

The hospital manager commented more on her motivation to pursue a life in the provision of health-care, “From a young age, I’ve always had an interest in human biology and how everything functions. I knew that I wanted to be in the health-care industry, but I was unclear of where I wanted to specialize.

“I discovered there was a market gap in the Virgin Islands in the area of physiotherapy through the work placement I did in health-care when I was younger,” she continued. “I was drawn to this form of treatment, because it was a very hands-on kind of role and now doing the occupation, I find it’s a very active position; I’m always running around the hospital. It is also profoundly interactive with regards to the patients. You get to know people and can sometimes form strong friendships. It is rewarding as well and I continue to gain great gratification from the position. “

Alongside her occupation, Ms. Leslie has “been lecturing at the Alternative Secondary Education Programme since 2005. She said, “This is a programme that gives high school students who did not complete the curriculum, a second chance to complete their high school diploma. I teach Human and Social Biology. It gives me a great sense of pride and joy to see my students graduate. Some students even progress further and go on to take college classes.”

The physiotherapist declared that her knowledge of how to conduct herself in a professional capacity grew not only from study, but also from her travelling experiences: “I have done a fair amount of travelling. I actually gained a lot of my qualifications and experience in physiotherapy in England and I worked in Bangladesh for a month. I love to experience different cultures.”

“My time in Bangladesh taught me a lot about creativity and innovation,” she added. “I learnt how to make do with less, for example, you don’t need the best technology in order to deal with certain situations like communication or even in your daily job. It really highlighted how one can make do with the minimum and how luxury materialistic goods aren’t always necessary.

“In addition, it taught me that instead of complaining about the things that I don’t have, to be creative in presenting methods in order to gain those things.”

The Young Professional also said, “I always try to treat people the way I would like to be treated. I aspire to be as grateful and appreciative of the things I have at all times.”

Looking to the near future, the health-care employee stated, “I certainly wouldn’t change my location because I love the Virgin Islands. Hopefully, I would like to expand and have access to more resources. Right now I’m working under certain constraints, financial mainly, and it would be good if we could expand the space with which to work and increase the number of staff.”

“My job also provides me with notions of initiatives I would like to see acted out in the future, like preventative measures persons could take to avoid future health problems. For instance, I would like to go into schools to talk to students about correct posture,” she commented.

Ms. Leslie concluded, saying her ambition is to “make sure that each and every person in the Virgin Islands has access to physiotherapy services. My mission for the year is to raise the awareness in the community and I hope I can build on my knowledge by pursuing a Doctorate in Physiotherapy (DPT).  I would also like to do some work in a country where there are considerably less provisions and be able to provide some assistance,” she ended.