Hello again from the UCSD Asylum Seeker Medical Screening and Stabilization Program! My month here has been flying by, and I can’t believe this is my last week working here with this incredible team and patient population.
One of the Navy residents, Dr. Boone, has been mentoring me over the past 2 weeks.
Clinically, the experience has been incredible. I’ve seen so many conditions for the first time, from chicken pox and scabies to mucopolysaccharidosis; meanwhile, the experience on a personal level has been unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Having the opportunity to speak with families about their journeys to and across the US-Mexico border has given me so much more insight into the process of seeking asylum, has broadened my understanding of global health and inspired me beyond comparison.
For context, the shelters are receiving up to 500 people per day (!) from the busiest border in the world.
In preparation for this rotation my site mentor, Dr. Baird, provided me with a list of readings and materials to study. These included a documentary called Seeking Asylum, which tells the story of just one family’s journey to the US and their experiences seeking asylum within the broken systems in place. (I would recommend this documentary to all!) I remember watching this a few months ago and thinking to myself that I couldn’t even begin to imagine how many families experience similar hardships. It was impossible to fathom the volume and global scale of asylum seekers, and the immense healthcare inequities they face, until I saw just a fraction of it for myself. Since starting my work with the Asylum Seekers Shelters, I have been honored to have had extensive conversions with individuals and families about their experiences, their fears, and their hopes with regards to their asylum-seeking process. In the shelters, we see the tangible impact of global injustices. Discrimination, persecution, violence, corruption, war… the circumstances of our world have obliged such a large scale of migration, and we see the effects of it all right at our door.
If you, like myself, have done a rotation at the UCSD Hillcrest Trauma Bay, you’ve more than likely seen a border wall related injury, or other traumas and illnesses related to severe conditions of travel through treacherous regions like the Darien Gap. Below is an image from an article in the San Diego Tribune, depicting just one part of the journey so many individuals and families have been obliged to make.
Source: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/story/2022-04-29/border-wall-injuries-deaths
I had the privilege of interviewing a father about his family’s experience traveling from Ecuador across the US-Mexico border, in hopes of being one step closer to a life without fear of persecution. He sustained severe injuries along the way and was separated from his family. While we spoke about his injuries, he also told me poignant stories about the beauty of his home country, his life back home, and all he was forced to leave behind due to the persecution his family had faced. He then recounted all of the unanticipated risks, challenges, and dangers his family has endured. He shared with me the complicated feelings he faced with regards to choosing to take on this journey.
Thankfully, I later found out that he was reunited with his family a few days after receiving treatment for his injuries. I think about him every day. Most of the time, after we stabilize and medically clear our patients, we do not know where the remainder of their journey takes them, which has been one of the biggest challenges of this rotation. In the ever-changing global and domestic political climate, there is so much uncertainty in the future. The patients I’ve met have inspired me and encouraged me to continue learning and training in this field, and to have faith in a brighter, safer, and more equitable future for all.
