La Clínica Week 3
This was my first La Clínica trip but it certainly won’t be my last. We were able to bring 6 cars down to Maclovio Rojas, Mexico filled with FISH members, an RN and a doctor. We made excellent time driving into Mexico (thanks to Bryant’s superb leading skills) and exhibited some professional grade caravanning maneuvers. It was a slow day in the market place but we were able to see around 150 people despite the gusts of wind threatening to blow us all the way back to UCLA. We had the usual stations set up with the addition of a physician consultation, fitness test and kids’ station. I was surprised to see that people kept their slips from previous FISH clinics so that they could compare their results. There was even one lady who fasted the entire morning so that she could have an accurate resting glucose reading. It really proved to me that we are actually making a difference and providing people with the means to improve upon their physical well-being. To know that people depend on our services to monitor their blood pressure and glucose levels makes the 4:30am wake up call a little more meaningful.
I spent a majority of the day at the kids’ station drawing nutritional meals as examples for healthy eating. I loved interacting with the kids because there didn’t seem to be as much of a language barrier. Hand a kid a jump rope and ask “¿quieres jugar conmigo?” and you have an instant friend. Even though I found it easier to communicate with the children there was one particular instance in which my misinterpretation of a hula-hooping girl came from different perspectives of the world versus speaking two different languages. She asked me “¿es del otro lado?” Not understanding what she meant, I turned to Caitlin and asked her, “the other side of what?” That’s when the girl’s mother chimed in and explained that the other side is the United States. For some reason this really shook me from my present state and made me think of how different our worlds were and yet we were just on the other side of the border.
One of my favorite moments of the day was when a man handed his toddler over to Mary so that he could be weighed. Even though the little girl was none too pleased to be leaving the safe embrace of Daddy’s arms, her father knew that she was in good hands. He was completely trusting in Mary with his daughter; just like every patient we see is completely trusting in us and our knowledge and abilities.
After we cleaned up the site we had lunch and debriefed at Tacos las Especias where we ordered as efficiently as any True Bruin would. To bring our time in Mexico to completion, we had an impromptu Karaoke sing-off battle between cars over the walkie-talkies while waiting in line at the border, making this, officially, the best La Clínica trip I have ever been on.
DRT
This was my first La Clínica trip but it certainly won’t be my last. We were able to bring 6 cars down to Maclovio Rojas, Mexico filled with FISH members, an RN and a doctor. We made excellent time driving into Mexico (thanks to Bryant’s superb leading skills) and exhibited some professional grade caravanning maneuvers. It was a slow day in the market place but we were able to see around 150 people despite the gusts of wind threatening to blow us all the way back to UCLA. We had the usual stations set up with the addition of a physician consultation, fitness test and kids’ station. I was surprised to see that people kept their slips from previous FISH clinics so that they could compare their results. There was even one lady who fasted the entire morning so that she could have an accurate resting glucose reading. It really proved to me that we are actually making a difference and providing people with the means to improve upon their physical well-being. To know that people depend on our services to monitor their blood pressure and glucose levels makes the 4:30am wake up call a little more meaningful.
I spent a majority of the day at the kids’ station drawing nutritional meals as examples for healthy eating. I loved interacting with the kids because there didn’t seem to be as much of a language barrier. Hand a kid a jump rope and ask “¿quieres jugar conmigo?” and you have an instant friend. Even though I found it easier to communicate with the children there was one particular instance in which my misinterpretation of a hula-hooping girl came from different perspectives of the world versus speaking two different languages. She asked me “¿es del otro lado?” Not understanding what she meant, I turned to Caitlin and asked her, “the other side of what?” That’s when the girl’s mother chimed in and explained that the other side is the United States. For some reason this really shook me from my present state and made me think of how different our worlds were and yet we were just on the other side of the border.
One of my favorite moments of the day was when a man handed his toddler over to Mary so that he could be weighed. Even though the little girl was none too pleased to be leaving the safe embrace of Daddy’s arms, her father knew that she was in good hands. He was completely trusting in Mary with his daughter; just like every patient we see is completely trusting in us and our knowledge and abilities.
After we cleaned up the site we had lunch and debriefed at Tacos las Especias where we ordered as efficiently as any True Bruin would. To bring our time in Mexico to completion, we had an impromptu Karaoke sing-off battle between cars over the walkie-talkies while waiting in line at the border, making this, officially, the best La Clínica trip I have ever been on.
DRT
RSS Feed