Chapter 81

In Canada, we have free eye exams for anyone who is at or under the age of 19 years, at or over the age of 65, and also if they have any special eye conditions. As for surgeries? Also free. Because of this level of access to eye care, we don’t actually see severe ocular diseases. 

In this regard, Moldova and Mexico were both times when I got my eyes forcibly opened to how other parts of the world really work. They were experiences when I saw first hand what a lack of healthcare can lead to. It was ugly. Easily preventable diseases that required a small amount of intervention early on became permanent vision impairments. 

When our group first arrived at the hospital, we had to work out which stations were for what. Then, we had to distribute the translators because there were only a handful of those around and only a few of our group spoke Spanish at a conversational level. After a little bit of back and forth, everyone was eventually worked out to have an assigned station.

We had rooms specific for triaging, eye health assessment, refraction, and glasses dispensing. Those who were fluent in Spanish did most of the triage as this was the most efficient use of our language fluency. The rest of us worked with translators at our designated stations and made due with what we had. Then? Off to the races, we got started. 

It was non-stop the entire time. Exam after exam. Patient after patient. Our team was smaller than that of Moldova and we were also doing so many more tests. Diagnostic drops were used on almost everyone and we systematically categorized the large population of patients based on need for surgery and those who just needed glasses. 

I was at the ocular station for the most part and honestly, this felt new to me. In Moldova, we had a very small ocular health station and as I mentioned numerous times, we didn’t dilate patients. The ocular health testing felt incomplete and at times, kind of nonexistent. Here in Mexico though? Everyone was screened thoroughly and I was not used to providing this level of care on a humanitarian mission. 

On an educational level, I felt like all of our group had gotten our fill. In school, because we were usually doing eye exams on Canadians, we rarely got to see, first hand, what happens when things go horribly. Now, we were up to our necks with “special cases” and disease presentations. The images in our textbooks came to life. We were seeing things in vivo. 

Before we knew it, a good 175 patients had made it through our doors on day 1. That’s a lot of people. If you’re wonder how QALY we improved? Well…There’s no exact numbers for this because no one was keeping track. However, from my experiences of how things went, I’d say:

“Though we didn’t see as many patients as in Moldova, our individual output for QALY increase was higher in Mexico”. That is to say, although we were helping less people, I genuinely believe we were helping the ones we did see much more. 

At the end of the day, we were exhausted but quite fulfilled. It was tiring work and don’t forget, we were still very negative in our sleep consumption. When we came back to our lodging from the hospital, we were warmly welcomed with cold showers and an overall lacking amount of hot water. At that point, we brushed it off. There is only so much disappointment you can sustain before you realize that the disappointment you experience is because of the lifestyle of a first-worlder. I mean, sure, it sucked but while it was a nuisance for us, this was a commonplace for the locals. 

I think that’s the biggest difference between vacationing and going on a mission trip. During the mission trip, you really get to mingle with the locals and get a sense of their lifestyle. We weren’t going to lavish 5 star hotels or places with a lot of attractions, we were visiting poor rural towns. Apart from the locations, eye exams are also pretty personal. The healthcare providers ask some invasive medical history questions and honestly, that alone can tell you quite a lot about a person’s life. With vacations, you really just go around and see pretty things. More relaxing, sure, but the experience of being thanked for helping someone who has never seen clearly to see perfectly is just…something else. 

After the showers, our team would then have dinner together and share our experiences throughout the day. Honestly, it was just nice to relax and laugh at all the unique experiences we’d gone through. Speaking of which, I even remember the first culture shock we’d experienced (No, it wasn’t the guns). It was how surprisingly rampant diabetes was in Mexico. I mean, there was just so much diabetic retinopathy in the population. Our lead optometrist organizer was quick to tell us that this happens because in this rural town, it was cheaper to buy Coca Cola than clean water. A fact that still surprises me years later. 

With our roles established after day one, our team was able to churn through more patients with better efficiency during the next days to come. We got into a rhythm and things just fell into place. Another thing I noticed during the week? How important the location was. During Moldova, we were situated in what looked to be a school gym. There were barely any curtains and for eye exams, there was no option of dark room tests. This was kind of an issue if you wanted to check for eye health related concerns. There were just some things that show up way better in the dark than with lights on. Here in Mexico, unlike in Moldova, we were situated in a hospital. And in the hospital? You guessed it, we got dark rooms! It honestly was a literal difference of night and day for eye health tests and without this, we’d probably struggle a lot more. 

Because of how busy we were, in the blink of an eye the first day turned into the last one. While the days during the week were pretty copy-paste all around, the last day was different. On the last day, the locals decided to host a party for us. 

It was a variety show of sorts where locals with talent would take the stage and perform dances, songs and other talents with us as the guests of honor. It was a really great time. In comparison to Moldova, where after our clinical days were over we were treated to a trip nearby to some churches and cool establishments, here, things seemed much more lively. 

Then, at the very end of the impromptu performance, the main organizer got all of the volunteers on stage and we got showered in applause. They even gave us certificates with our names on them (with outlandish dissertations that did not match our resumes at all too). Our group accepted the certifications with appreciation and then, was forcibly given a shot of an unknown type of Spanish alcohol. 

Before I took my shot, I remember that when I was in Moldova and was offered alcohol, it turned out to be moonshine that made the experience feel like chugging gasoline. But whatever. It is what it is. I mean, we were on a stage and rejecting the shot would feel incredibly disrespectful. Furthermore, this served as the finale of the night and in that spirit, I figured that if I were to die because of this drink at least we still would’ve completed what we set out to do here. 

(honestly, it wasn’t that bad)

Then… That was it.

The time in Mexico was absolutely exhaustive and tiring but near the end of the trip, we all felt like we actually made a difference. I wasn’t the only one in our group who had gone to Moldova,  there was a friend who had been there with me for Europe and Mexico. We chatted on the last day and from what I gathered, they seemed to have also thought that this trip was more beneficial to the locals than our last one. Sure, we probably saw less people since we had a smaller team and less time, but our exam quality was better. When the surgical team gets there in the future, they’ll be well prepared to do their thing. 

All that was left to do after the performance was leave. Unlike Moldova, there would be no vacation time on the account that we were there during our 1 week break from school. Well…almost no vacation time. The plan was quite simple. The morning after our last day, we’d make it to Durango and spend the day and the night there. Then in the following day’s morning, we’d fly back home. 

I guess that one day in Durango was kind of a mini-vacation victory lap for the trip. If you’re wondering how we spent that day… We took a very long walk along the local beach. Trying to enjoy the equatorial weather before we had to embrace the cold snowy north again. As short as it was, it was also all that we’d be getting. 

I wish I could tell you that after the beach, our last night in Mexico finished strong without any problems at all. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case at all. This is because we got flight issues again. Remember that blizzard that delayed our flights into Mexico? Well, there was another one and this time, it messed up our plans to fly out of Mexico. 

This was, of course, not good news. I mean, we had to attend school. This was a tightly planned trip since reading week was only around 9 days in total. There was really only 1 day between our landing date and the start of our classes and any delays to this was really pushing it. 

Sometime after midnight, the website locked out a majority of the team. Then, it became unclear if we’d be even getting on a plane the next day. With this in mind, we headed to the airport the next day a bit earlier in hopes that maybe we can handle things better there in person. 

When we got there though? Chaos. Our flight had been delayed. First it was a few hours, then it was a few more. Eventually, it was canceled. The blizzard in Canada was unstoppable. 

The airline shuttled us to a nearby hotel and were given some coupons for food. We wouldn’t be spending the entire night there though. The next flight back was supposed to be around 4-5 hours from when we arrived at the hotel. Essentially meaning that our trip will pretty much conclude like how it started. With a large amount of sleep loss and completely at the mercy of the Canadian cold. 

Mercifully though, this would be the last problem we’d have on the trip and in the end, we were all able to make it back in time for the first lecture post reading week. I suppose it makes for a nice story now but during the time, it really was stressful. With that said, I think the obstacles we faced, in some way, added to the experience. I mean, being selfless and volunteering is more endearing when the tasks are met with difficulty right? Or to put it another way, the more the volunteers suffered, the more meaningful the work they did became. I think the best example of this was that unlike Moldova, where I got quite cynical about the entire ordeal after the fact, I didn’t have those thoughts with Mexico. Not only was Mexico a humanitarian mission, it was a story of surviving in Mexico City Airport and blizzards. 

Was this experience fulfilling? Absolutely. I got to make a bigger difference in Tepehuanes than in Moldova. Not only was the quality of service better, it was for a much more needy population as well. On QALY alone, I think I must have dispensed more in Mexico than in Moldova. With that said, was this what I needed considering what was waiting for me back in Waterloo? 

Absolutely not. 

I needed a vacation and time to catch up on school. This trip to Mexico was not that. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed up so much in my entire life during a one week time interval. The trip did not leave me rejuvenated to tackle my problems back home. If anything, it left me completely drained and in the worst condition possible to continue on with the term. 

As the blizzard subsided in Canada, a new storm was about to head my way.