In October
A team of 7 nurses members of NYSNA and one doctor concerned about the migrants’ health, traveled to the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros, to provide free medical assistance to 275 patients from different parts of the world, waiting in Mexico for a chance to enter the USA.
About 1,200 migrants live in Reynosa and Matamoros, Mexico border camp, near Mc Allen, Texas. Here nobody wants to leave the enclave of the crowded field full of tents – not even to buy a bottle of water or to collect money transfers from his family back home, afraid to miss the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) call.
Besides the tents, other migrants are now living in informal shelters, where there’s little to no health care. Among hundreds of migrants were people from from several countries in Africa, Caribbean and Central America waiting for an interview with a US Immigration Officer.
After four days, NYSNA’s team provided Medical assistance to 275 patients.
“I think it’s great that New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) is involved in Medical Missions, and I think it should be bigger from here allowing more nurses to have these unique experiences.”
~ Frannie Willsey, RN
“It’s was a really good experience. It was a good way of practicing another sort of nursing, instead of being in a hospital with all sort of resources. Here it requires more critical thinking, utilizing what we have, which is the way these people live their lives every day. It was good to be able to step in their shoes. I also think that NYSNA should expend this program. It was a great experience.”
~ Mary Boyd, RN
