Owia celebrates its own home-grown medical doctor

Since she was a child, Shantel Shanika Nanton wanted to become a doctor to help the sick people in her community of Owia.

Nanton has finally realized her dream, and she is now Dr Shantel Shanika Nanton, the first medical doctor to come out of the fishing and farming village of Owia.

DR SHANTEL NANTON’S parents Irma and Alaric Nanton

Dr Nanton was among five Vincentian doctors who recently graduated after seven years of studies in Cuba.

In an interview with SEARCHLIGHT on Saturday evening, July 22, Dr Nanton expressed deep gratitude to the Republic of Cuba and to the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) for the scholarship which was made available to her.

Dr Nanton spent her first year in Cuba learning Spanish and spent six additional years at the University of Medical Sciences of Matanzas.

While she was attending the Owia Government School, Nanton competed in a beauty pageant. She remembers that for the interview she had to state what she wanted to become when she grew up.

Back then, she stole the hearts of the judges when she expressed her dream to become a doctor to help the sick and poor people in Owia.

At the end of the show in June, 2001, Nanton was crowned Miss Owia Primary School Queen, having won Best Interview, and Best Talent.

That deep desire remained with her throughout secondary school at the GHS, and at the SVG Community College, Division of Arts, Sciences and General Studies.

After graduation from college, Nanton took up a teaching position at the Sandy Bay Secondary School, where she taught for close to five years.

She recalled that even while working as a teacher, her students noticed her empathetic nature and her love for science and kept encouraging her to pursue her dreams to become a doctor.

The opportunity to study medicine came in 2016, when she applied for and was granted a scholarship to study in Cuba.

Nanton grabbed that opportunity and moved from Owia to Cuba to fulfil her life long dream.

It was not always easy, as there were challenges along the way, but she persevered.

In reflection, Dr Nanton said the period of the COVID-19 pandemic was especially challenging for her.

She thanks her family and friends and God, for support and encouragement during that difficult time.

In her close knit community of Owia, family is everything, and Dr Nanton is the last of seven children for her parents Alaric and Irma Nanton.

Now that she has become a medical doctor, Nanton said it is her desire to some day specialize in Endocrinology to be better able to help patients with hormone problems and other related medical issues.

Incidentally, on the day of the interview on Saturday, July 23, two funerals were taking place in her North Windward community.

One funeral was in Owia, while the other was in Sandy Bay- both persons had succumbed to cancer.

When asked about the prevalence of Cancer in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Nanton spoke of the importance of early diagnosis of cancer and other diseases.

“Cancer is plaguing our society, especially in Owia and Sandy Bay,” she expressed.

Because of the difficulty in treating and managing cancer in it’s late stages, Dr Nanton is urging everyone to get tested early and regularly.

“People do not have enough knowledge about the need for testing and early diagnosis.”