ON a mission to replace the medical check-up anxiety with warmth and familiarity, husband-and-wife specialists Dr Belinda Morrison-Blidgen and Dr Joseph Blidgen hope to do just that — one patient at a time — through their newly opened practice, The Urology and Cardiothoracic Centre.

The facility combines Morrison-Blidgen’s expertise in urology and her husband’s experience as a cardiothoracic surgeon, offering patients access to specialist consultations, diagnostic services, and selected minimally invasive procedures in an environment designed to put them at ease.

Speaking at the grand opening of the medical facility on Hope Road in St Andrew last Thursday, Morrison-Blidgen told the Jamaica Observer that the venture represents an opportunity to transform the way patients experience health care, while making innovative treatments more accessible locally.

“One of the important things for me, I’m a people person; I love people. My patients sometimes become my friends. I know all that is happening with them,” she shared.

“What we’re trying to do is for medicine to feel less clinical and sterile, but to make it be like a friendship — a family,” she explained.

That philosophy is at the heart of the couple’s vision for the facility, where patients will be able to consult with both specialists and explore treatment options without the atmosphere traditionally associated with a hospital.

Morrison-Blidgen explained that the centre also features a procedure room, allowing her to perform several treatments under local anaesthesia, eliminating the need for patients to undergo general anaesthesia or be admitted to hospital for certain procedures.

Among the services being offered are circumcisions, vasectomies and hydrocelectomies, the latter being a procedure to address fluid accumulation around the testicle that causes swelling of the scrotum.

Diagnostic services will include prostate biopsies and cystoscopies, which allow doctors to examine the inside of the bladder.

However, one of the facility’s most significant offerings is a relatively new treatment for enlarged prostates, which Morrison-Blidgen introduced to Jamaica in 2024.

Urologist Dr Belinda Morrison-Blidgen and her husband Dr Joseph Blidgen, a cardiothoracic surgeon, cut a ceremonial ribbon at the grand opening of their private practice, The Urology and Cardiothoracic Centre in St Andrew, with their sons Noah (second left) and Micah last Thursday.

Known as Rezūm Water Vapour Therapy, the minimally invasive procedure uses steam to treat excess prostate tissue responsible for urinary difficulties in men.

According to the urologist, an enlarged prostate is a common condition among ageing men and, although it is not necessarily associated with cancer, it can significantly affect their quality of life.

“Sometimes they can’t urinate at all, and they have to have a tube placed in the penis, or they have to get up a lot at night or in the daytime to urinate. So it can cause a lot of stresses,” she explained.

Traditionally, men experiencing these symptoms have been treated with medication — which may need to be taken indefinitely — or surgery performed in a hospital’s operating theatre.

But Morrison-Blidgen said Rezūm therapy offers another option, particularly for patients who are reluctant to remain on medication for their lifetime or undergo more invasive surgery.

“This is a minimally invasive way to treat an enlarged prostate that did not require [patients] to be put to sleep, did not require [them] to be admitted to hospital. And you could come in, have your treatment done, and go home the same day,” she told the Sunday Observer.

But beyond the technology, she believes the relationship between doctor and patient is equally important. Morrison-Blidgen noted that fear and embarrassment, particularly surrounding men’s health, have traditionally discouraged some patients from seeking medical attention.

The urologist believes that creating a reassuring atmosphere, supported by attentive staff and doctors who take the time to understand their patients, can make a meaningful difference.

“You want to feel like the doctor knows you and really cares about you. That is important, and that’s the change that we’re trying to make — one small step at a time,” she said.

Her husband, meanwhile, brings a different but complementary speciality to the practice.

Husband-and-wife duo Dr Joseph Blidgen and Dr Belinda Morrison-Blidgen are all smiles inside their office at the newly opened The Urology and Cardiothoracic Centre last Thursday. (Photos: Garfield Robinson)

A cardiothoracic surgeon who has worked in Jamaica since returning from Canada in 2007, Blidgen specialises in the treatment of conditions affecting the heart, lungs, oesophagus, and chest.

Unlike his wife’s office-based procedures, much of his surgical work requires the resources of a hospital, including an operating theatre, specialised equipment, and intensive care facilities.

As such, the new practice will primarily serve as a space for consultations, patient assessments, follow-up visits, and selected minor diagnostic procedures.

“This basically is like an office where I will see most of the patients that I maybe have operated on or patients who want a review. And sometimes we can do minimal things like biopsies but the major, complex things, especially in my field, have to be dealt with in a hospital setting,” he explained.

He said the setting will also provide an opportunity to spend more time helping patients and their relatives understand medical diagnoses and proposed treatments, particularly when the news is difficult.

“We think that this space is a little bit quiet and calming…so hopefully they’ll be able to have a clearer understanding and recognise that the diagnosis is one part, but we have available treatment locally,” he said.

He credited his wife with developing the concept for the facility, noting that her interest in minimally invasive treatments and emerging medical technologies has been a driving force behind the investment.

Blidgen explained that she has devoted considerable effort to attending conferences, exploring new medical technologies and identifying procedures that could be safely introduced into an office-based setting in Jamaica.

For the couple, the ultimate measure of success will not simply be the number of procedures performed or a future expansion of the practice, but the experience patients have when they walk through the doors of The Urology and Cardiothoracic Centre.

“I think if we break down those barriers in terms of how we stigmatise health care, patients [will be] more likely to go to a doctor and feel more relaxed,” said Morrison-Blidgen.