The February Flying Samaritans clinic took place on February 21 at Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos. We were able to provide our patients with general medical services, pediatric, ob/gyn, chiropractic, pharmacy and dental services.
Pat McClure worked his magic and there were six planes to transport the volunteers to Baja. Pat, Nolan Larson, Brice Dill, Bob Dobransky and Rick Koril provided transportation to Loreto on Friday and Paul Rowley was the direct to Lopez airplane. Each month we are thankful for the pilots who are willing to give their time and expertise to fly their planes with supplies and volunteers to Mexico.
Paul Rowley, Braden Michaud, Holly Michaud and Bonnie Lassen cleaned and prepared the clinic for the Saturday morning arrivals.
We were able to provide 185 services to the patients with Maria Kenneally seeing general medical patients. Claudia Hart saw the pediatric patients, Gail Brown the ob/gyn patients and Neta and Gene Kimmel the chiropractic patients. Our dentist was Braden Michaud with Holly Michaud assisting and Erika Sales provided dental hygiene services. Nurses Susan Canale and Marion Sachs capably handled triage. Our new pharmacist, Bryan Khun, fit right in filling prescriptions and communicating with the providers. In addition, reading and sunglasses were managed by Rick Koril and Nolan Larsen.
The providers were kept busy all day with the dental folks being the last to finish. It continues to amaze me that many of our providers work all week and then dedicate their time at the clinic for another day of work.
Our interpreters included Benita Winrow, Kimberly Goff and Bonnie Lassen. Pat McClure and Dave Bowman handled the sterilization of dental equipment. Bryan Kenneally helped with keeping the nurses supplied with medical files and Bob Dobransky checked out mechanical equipment in the compressor room that needs updating. Paul Rowley held his monthly pilot meeting.
Roberto Logan provided us with a tasty lunch and a pineapple upside down cake for dessert. It was delicious.
A few of the volunteers who finished a bit early were able to partake in some whale watching and although the seas were choppy and it was windy, they were able to spot a few whales.
The next clinic is scheduled for March 21st. Please contact your coordinator to sign up for this trip. Again, for the time being, Gail Brown is the contact for triage and Bonnie Lassen is the contact for dental. We do have some good news starting, in April Karen Felty has volunteered to take over the position of Dental Coordinator. And, as mentioned previously, we have filled the pharmacist position with Brian Khun who has a lot of experience in volunteering in medical clinics outside of the U.S. Also in addition to being a provider, Maria Kenneally has agreed to take on the job of purchasing the meds for the clinic.
Our monthly administrative meetings take place on the first Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Chandler Airport Conference Room. If you have an interest in attending, you are always welcome.
Thank you to all of the volunteers who contributed their energy and time to the February clinic. It was a successful, well attended clinic.
Bonnie Lassen
President/Interpreter Coordinator