Our May trip was led by our Pharmacy Clinic Coordinator’s, Tamera Scott and Miguel Velasco. Together, with our other board directors, we were able to organize our Pharmacy unit. This included allocating different categories of medications in their designated location and properly disposing of expired medications using out Rx destroyers. Making progress on the organization of this area of our clinic will not only allow us to be more efficient in distributing the correct medications, but it will also ensure that we have sufficient medications for our patients. In addition to this, we were also able to take clothing donations to individual’s living in Rancho Escondido.
January Telemedicine Clinic
During our clinic last January, we were able to provide care to over 40 patients! This was the longest telemedicine clinic we’ve ever had, with more and more patients requiring our service each month. It was clear that it was not only our providers that were invaluable to this clinic, but also the organization, teamwork, and leadership of our student volunteers at UCLA.
Flying Samaritans member, Emily Lu, shared her experience:
“As a scribe and shadower in my very first clinic, I was in awe of how coordinated the telemedicine clinic was run, in spite of COVID-19 and technical difficulties (a fire in the community that disturbed the signal). I was incredibly proud to be a part of such a organization that was able to adapt according to the situation quickly and to bring care to our patients no matter what (like fundraising ~$2800 for medication to be sent to Tijuana). I am also so inspired by our physicians’ generosity with their time and attentiveness to patients’ needs.
During my second clinic, I served as a translator in my group and I was incredibly nervous, not being a native Spanish speaker. However, it pushed me outside of my comfort zone in a good way and I was able to connect with our patients on a deeper level. My group leaders Tiffany and Samantha were essential in facilitating the smooth transition from patient to patient and also aiding in my translating. I’m so grateful to Flying Samaritans for giving me and other students the opportunity to step up and serve patients!”
The Seemingly Impossible Achieved: Telemedicine
In March 2020, I ran into a question on the Flying Samaritans board application that read “Do you have any suggestions in improving our organization?” I responded by proposing my idea for telemedicine as a way to provide continuous care for our patients during the pandemic.
At that time, the goal seemed entirely too idealistic and unattainable. Understandably, there was doubt regarding the feasibility of telemedicine; our patients live in low-income, rural areas, which we thought meant low internet bandwidth and lack of technological accessibility. The latter was a misconception believed before we actually gathered data. Through data analysis, we found that 69% of our 48 patients served through telemedicine have access to either a phone or internet connection, which is drastically more than we expected. The other 31% receive care by visiting the church near our clinic sites in either Rancho Escondido or Colonia Margarita Moran, where they use a community leader’s phone during the time of our telemedicine clinics, synonymous to walk-in patients.
Every facet of our organization has been dedicated to transitioning to a virtual platform, which is the only reason the purportedly infeasible transformed into reality. Innovative and resourceful students designed and customized a brand new electronic health records system, modified clinic operations for virtual provision with continued student involvement, created a structure for medication delivery and reimbursement, and allocated funds necessary to achieve the goal. Physicians gave invaluable advice throughout the whole process, and have generously volunteered their time every month to consult with patients while teaching students.
This experience taught me that those things which seem too far-fetched or impossible really are achievable, with compassion, dedication, perseverance, and collaboration. Knowing that my seemingly unrealistic idea has flourished into a beautiful system that provides the care our patients desperately need makes me so incredibly happy. I want to thank every single person who has contributed to this effort - it truly couldn’t have been possible without everyone’s resilience and dedication.
-Grace Park