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4/1/01 - Santa Barbara News-Press DISPATCH FROM MEXICO, PART 1 For one week each year, many of Ensenada's poor get their cavities filled, their blood pressurechecked and their anemia or arthritis treated. These people would be hard-pressed to see a doctor or dentist if it weren't for the free medical and dental clinics operated each spring by Westmont College's Potter's Clay program. "Dentistry is very expensive here," says Victor Añorve, an Ensenada dentist who has worked with Potter's Clay for the last six years. "Most dentists charge a week's salary to fill a single cavity. That's why this is the only dental care that many people will receive. They wait all year to come." Last week an entourage of local medical professionals traveled to Ensenada as part of Potter's Clay to help Añorve and Ramon Vidauri, an Ensenada doctor, treat a slew of people at makeshift clinics in churches or classrooms. The American reinforcements included five dentists, five physicians, two nurses, one dental hygienist and one dental assistant. Most have been coming for years. Santa Barbara dental hygienist Kathy Mann has accompanied her employer, dentist Lee Neuenschwander, for the last five years. Initially, she was so dismayed by the lack of equipment that she began soliciting donations of supplies and equipment. "The first year, I was scaling teeth on church pews and couches," she says. "We had no headlamps, so I rigged a metal desk lamp in order to see into the patient's mouth. "Now we operate on portable dental patient chairs, with self-contained water units, working suction, electric drills, sterilizing equipment and headlamps. We have gas-fueled Simply getting all this equipment to the five clinic sites is a major undertaking. The dental team pulls up in a big 18-foot cargo truck, and spends the next hour or two unloading everything. Then, the back of the truck is turned into a pharmacy. Patients get prescriptions filled for free, dispensed by one of the Potter's Clay nurses. While patients wait to see the dentist, Westmont students pass out toothbrushes and toothpaste and show the children how to brush and floss their teeth. Judging by the laughter, spitting and frantic search for water, this may be the first toothpaste many of the children have tasted. In a 10-hour day, the dental team sees 80 to 100 patients, or more, and performs 40 fillings and perhaps an equal number of extractions, as well as 10 or more cleanings. Meanwhile, the medical team tends to patients with other ailments. As patients wait to see a doctor, a nurse takes medical histories and checks blood pressure. The nurse shows the women how to perform breast self-examinations. In a day's time, the physicians will see everything from drug addiction to gunshot wounds. The majority of patients, however, have complaints similar to those presented at any U.S. clinic. "It's mostly respiratory infections, influenza, digestive disturbances, that sort of thing," says Dr. Scott Voorman, an 11-year veteran of Potter's Clay. "We'll see some skin diseases, infections and parasites. We'll see hypertension and arthritis. We'll often treat women for anemia." This day, however, they also treat a 30-year-old woman who has been taking medication for 17 years to counteract the symptoms of menopause. A rape when she was 9 caused so much internal damage that she was given a complete hysterectomy at 13. The woman now has a kidney infection, but perhaps more debilitating, suffers from feelings of uselessness and failure as a woman. The doctor prescribes medicine for the kidney infection, and the nurses talk to her about the special service she can perform, caring for children who have no one else. The woman leaves with spirits visibly lifted. The Potter's Clay team can't perform surgery, and some of the health problems — such as hypertension and drug rehabilitation — require long-term intervention or continual medication, which these patients cannot afford. A heroin addict is taken to a church-sponsored rehabilitation clinic. Hypertensive patients will return to Vidauri, who will try to obtain free or low-cost medications. One of the long-lasting benefits of the Potter's Clay medical/dental team is that the supplies and medicines left behind will help Vidauri and Añorve care for patients through much of the year. They see Potter's Clay as an opportunity to be of meaningful service, and that's what keeps them and other health care practitioners coming back year after year. "I do it for the love of people and the love of God," says Añorve, who runs a low-cost practice in Throughout the year, Vidauri sees patients at a clinic sponsored by Desarollo Integral de la Familia, an Ensenada social welfare agency. Potter's Clay is an opportunity to inspire others to continue and expand upon his work. "I know that not everyone is called upon to do the work I do, because it is not easy," he says. "Still, when you are called to do it, it is not easy to say no. And many hands Past tragedy Tragedy struck Potter's Clay 12 years ago. Three Westmont College students were killed in a car accident as they set out to repair a dilapidated house in Ensenada. Among the students killed was Alan Voorman. The following spring, Voorman's brother, Scott Voorman, a Thousand Oaks physician, traveled to Ensenada, searching for answers to questions that had troubled him since the accident. "I was looking for answers to primarily medical questions," saysVoorman, whose specialty is ear, nose and throat problems,"like, did my brother die because he was in a Third World country and didn't receive adequate medical care?" Then Voorman met Ramon Vidauri, an Ensenada physician and longtime Potter's Clay participant. Voorman was so impressed that he has returned to Ensenada every year to serve on the medical team. Moreover, he has spearheaded a stateside fund-raising effort to help Vidauri purchase land on which to build a permanent clinic. His efforts have generated $60,000, and Vidauri has raised $5,000 locally for the down payment. A site in central Ensenada has been located, and the sale is currently in escrow. If all goes as planned, Voorman, Potter's Clay, and others will help build Vidauri a free clinic next year. Despite the magnitude of that accomplishment, Voorman believes that Potter's Clay's biggest impact is not even visible yet. "The largest effect is the change Potter's Clay will work in the lives of its participants. Follow any of them in 10 years and see what their lives have accomplished," he says. "No matter what careers they pursue, they will pursue them with an attitude of service because they will have experienced for themselves how much they are blessed by serving." |
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