Tijuana Doctors

Last weekend I went to take pictures of my friends mother who runs a small clinic in a poor neighborhood in Tijuana. She brought along her son's girlfriend who just finished medical school to help out.

The clinic takes place at a makeshift church run by man named Victor who lives in San Diego and travels every week to hold services for the people who live there. We started off riding in the back of his truck to pick up anyone who wanted to attend church. Soon the truck was overflowing with old women, children, a pile of potatos, a microwave, a wheelchair and myself.

At the clinic everyone received a physical examination and some advice on how to stay healthy. Some had high blood pressure or diabetes and were told that in lieu of medicine that they could not afford they should watch their diet and exercise more. They passed out vitamins for the children and calcium for the older women. Some were unable to leave their homes so they got a house call.

One woman who needed dialysis had stacks and stacks of home dialysis kits in her house that were given to her by a lawyer in town. Unfortunately they were not the kind she needed. She has been gradually losing the feeling in her feet because of her unchecked kidney failure. The only thing the doctor could do for her was to give Victor a list of medicines which they could try to get that might help ease the pain in her feet.

See the rest of the pictures here.

Posted by Matt at December 4, 2003 12:57 AM