In June 2019, 15 LIS volunteers worked a two-day eye clinic in Poza Rica, Mexico. Student doctors from St Louis, Southern California, and New York City participated. Other doctors included team lead Dr. Robert Meisel, a LIS veteran, Dr. Mike Morgan from San Diego, doing his first LIS trip, and Dr. Amber McIntosh from Ottawa, Ontario, also a veteran of LIS clinics, and Mexican citizen Raul, also an OD. Raul and his son ran the frame station for patients with high astigmatism prescriptions. Raul and his son will make and ship new glasses to the patients they saw.
The host Poza Rica Lions were extremely welcoming and organized. They put the team up at a LaQuinta hotel with excellent facilities and held the clinic in an air conditioned church hall. Their appointment schedules were well run and kept the clinic team on track, allowing the team to examine 618 patients.
Poza Rica is a relatively new city (established 1951) in the state of Veracruz. It is located northeast of Mexico City, about an hour from the Gulf of Mexico. The Missouri Lions stayed an extra day in Poza Rica to enjoy the city.
Overall, it was a great clinic and provided invaluable experience for the student doctors and the Missouri technicians. The only downside to the trip was that Tijuana airport security confiscated all the batteries, a tape measure, and the duct tape from the portable doctor bags. The reason was unclear.