We have been on our medical mission trip for 3 days & it has been an amazing experience. I went on a mission trip to Monterrey Mexico in 2007 with the Catholic 20 Somethings. It was not a medical mission; we basically helped clean up an area so that they could construct a building for the community. This trip is different primarily in that the residents of Puebla live in houses that have electricity, etc. versus the area in Monterrey – their houses were made of cardboard boxes plastered together with mud. Most houses did not even have doors.
In Puebla, there are about 50 volunteers comprised of students, spouses, friends, UNTHSC faculty, doctors, PAs and others who heard about the trip by word of mouth. We are split into 4 teams and we go to different clinics. The sites of the clinics include a church, daycare, rural and a building on the mission that we are working with. The man in charge of the mission, Tom, has been an amazing inspiration for all of us. He was born in NYC and studied theology for 12 years before he moved down here to Puebla and worked with the mission. They have recently purchased land where they are renovating the buildings to start a couple of businesses to earn money for the mission (including making DVDs). They have been working with a movie producer to acquire rights to a movie; they would then sell the DVDs to major retailers. They hope that this will be a major source of income.
We are providing medical services to the communities within Puebla. We brought donated goods, including medicine (over the counter and prescription), toothbrushes, band-aids, etc. We are seeing anyone that comes to us. They have been advertising the free clinic and we have a few signs. We walked around handing out fliers the other day.
It has been a fantastic experience in which we get to use our skills learned in school. We have supervising physicians or PAs. The clinics are set up in the same way that a doctor visit would be in the US. Some of the volunteers with limited or no medical experience obtain the vitals (blood pressure, temperature, pulse, respirations). Then, we (PA & medical students, in pairs) interview the patients on our own, do a physical exam as deemed necessary and consult with the supervising physician or PA. Depending on the situation, the doc or PA will see the patient as well. We then diagnose and treat the patient. Some patients have problems or diseases that require intervention beyond our scope of practice. We have limited resources, medicine and equipment. Of course, we do whatever we can for each patient. With the patient population and culture that we are serving, most of the treatment for the patients includes basic education on diseases, hygiene and reassurance. Some examples include informing patients of how diabetes affects their bodies. An older gentleman just “wanted reassurance that he was diagnosed correctly” by his doctors here in Puebla. He wanted the opinion of “an American” and was very grateful – as are all the patients. How humbling. Most of the patients think that we are all doctors and are very grateful for our services. Some have doctors while others have not seen a doctor in years. They may have a disease (i.e. diabetes) that requires special attention, but they do not have money to see the doctor or to buy medicine.
Another example involves a family that we saw today. A grandmother, mother and her three children presented with multiple complaints. We addressed depression, headache and skin disorders – among many other complications. A second year PA student and I spent approximately three hours with the family – educating, discussing and diagnosing. We have interpreters assisting with the communication barriers.
Tomorrow my team is going to the rural site. There is limited water supply in the villages so the types of diseases may be more chronic or slightly different than they have been in the city. I am looking forward to the experience in the villages, also.
After clinic tomorrow, some of us are headed three hours east near Veracruz to go white water rafting! We are not having clinic Friday – it was originally planned to have a “free” day in the afternoon but we are now getting the whole day off. I have always wanted to experience white water rafting but have not had the opportunity to do so! We have been told that the river water is very cold because it is melted snow from the volcano. The volcano (looks like a mountain – can see snow at the top) can be seen in the distant, it is very pretty! After the rafting, we will head back to Puebla for some market shopping! Our plane leaves early Saturday morning and we get back to DFW around 1 p.m.
I will write more later but that is all for now. It is late and we are exhausted.
Good night & God Bless!
love,
adg
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