BajaNomad

June Flying Sams clinic trip to Lopez Mateos

capt. mike - 6-19-2012 at 02:54 PM

I thought many of you might enjoy reading this trip report. And it shows you where to read the blog by the resident clinic coordinator.

Fellow Samaritans,

This was the second trip of the season with overnights in Loreto. The flying weather down and back was just excellent, but our travel time going down was lengthened because of a stiff headwind.

Friday afternoon we ‘recruited’ an additional translator from Loreto. That’s my version of how we got the extra translator. What follows is Alicia’s version as taken from her blog – “I had to chuckle at the way your President seized the opportunity at the dining table to shake down the hotel manager if she knew anybody who might like to come for a Free Baja flight and free lunch prepared on a Pacific Beach of the Baja Peninsula in exchange for working for free at translating for doctors.” Recruiting effort or ‘shake down’, I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

Our compliment of Arizona providers- two dental, four medical, a chiropractor, two translators, two pharmacy and two helpers was supplemented by local translators and a local optical provider.

The results - I’ll again steal from Alicia’s blog. “Getting on the ground early and being able to take advantage of the summers longer daylight allowed the group to help 120 folks who came looking for this doctor or that dentist. The 120 breaks down to 23 general medicine patients seen as well as 8 pediatric followed by 49 chiropractor adjustments on the medical front. When we add 19 dental and 11 hygiene together with 10 optometry patients it rounds up to the 120.” If you would like to see more of Alicia’s comments use this link http://samaritansmovil.blogspot.com or work your way to it on our website under Alicia and Patrick’s blog re El Movil. You will also find a link to the weather in Lopez.

As always, when it was time to pack up, leave the clinic and fly away, I felt that we were all part of something amazing. Viva la clinica!

Loreto again proved to be a nice change of pace. Those with more history than I may remember staying at the Oasis Hotel. The hotel had good accommodations, but the best part was having rooms that opened onto a large and well maintained sand beach and an excellent view of the Sea of Cortez.

The Saturday night group meal was at Meta restaurant and that was definitely the food highlight for me. The chef personally takes your order and will prepare to your wishes. I asked for his freshest catch, told him I liked garlic and to prepare based on his recommendation. What I got was a huge fillet with mixed shell fish stuffing and perfect seasoning.

The next clinic, the final for this season, is scheduled for July 20-22. See you there.


– Phoenix Chapter
Flying Samaritans Arizona