Flying Samaritans

One Saturday a month, 20 members from the University of Arizona undergraduate club “Flying Samaritans” make a trip to Agua Prieta, Mexico.  Three to five local doctors go along and help run free medical clinics out of one of two buildings: El Rosario or Laguna San Ignacio.  They offer free medical services to Mexicans in need.

I came across this club on the UA campus from the Spanish department listserv. It sounded like a really unique trip to take, so I met with vice president Alexis Stone to see what the deal was with the Flying Samaritans.  They are a UA club that also has chapters all over the nation, including a separate one in Tucson.  I was very impressed with the fact that they touch the lives of about 50 people in Mexico each trip they make.

Stone said she has been on six trips, and that they accomplish so much while they’re there.  They set up a pharmacy and fundraise to bring all their own medicine to Mexico.  They hold a triage to help patients right away, and they have students running the clinic and translating for the doctors.  They also educate patients waiting to be treated about preventative health care.

Photos by Fernando Reyes Santos, club member

This is purely an undergraduate club, minus the doctors, of course. The Flying Samaritans try to recruit students to go on the trip from the Spanish department, pre-med and pharmacy school.  Then, of course any other student wanting to help out can join the club for $30 and go too! If you’re interested in joining, you can email Jillian Moore at  jillianm@email.arizona.edu.

Students like me who maybe have a minor in Spanish, but still feel like their accent is very “gringo”, are fine to come along as well, Alexis said.  The doctors are usually worse than the undergrads at Spanish, so they appreciate all the translation help they can get.  This was actually very encouraging news!

Alexis told me she’d love to have me go with them and document the excursion.  I would have to pay $20 just like everyone else.

I was curious as to what kind of health issues the doctors had been treating in Agua Prieta.  Stone said they saw a lot of patients with diabetes and hypertension that needed long term treatment plans and plenty of medicine.  She estimated that 75 percent of people they have seen are diabetic.  Learn more of the studies done on the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes in Mexicans.

The trip dates for this semester are the Saturdays of February 20, March 27, April 17, and May 1. 

See where Agua Prieta, Mexico is!

If you want to get involved or learn more about this trip, please contact flyingsamsua@gmail.com.

~ by nikki1488 on February 9, 2010.