Lisa went on Nuevo Camino’s Medical Trip to Peru this Spring. As a dental hygienist, she served with the women of Nuevo Camino in Cusco and with the people of the San Juan village alongside a team of medical professionals.
Learn more about Medical Service trips to Peru HERE!

I think we just did global health. 

When we arrived at the San Juan health clinic for our global health fair, we didn’t know if five people would show up, or fifty. But there we were, miles into the Andes Mountains, no turning back. We arranged intake tables and foot washing stations, and armed the outdoor sink with 100 toothbrushes and a giant model of fake teeth. Our friend Leandro built hand washing stands, stopping only to tend to a scraggly lamb that wandered into the clinic yard. When 8 am finally struck, our first visitor arrived – an older man with a face weathered by long days on the mountainside. Excited to simply have a patient, we marched him around the stations like a VIP. He received foot care and a health exam, and we sent him home with a toothbrush/paste, hand washing stand, pain cream and a pair of eyeglasses to boot. Not long after, crowds arrived until we couldn’t fit everyone into the green. Thank goodness for the Polaroid camera our hygienist Lisa brought, which entertained the kids for hours as they showed off their new pearly whites. And I will never forget the looks on the adults’ faces as we placed new eyeglasses on their noses. They had no idea how hip they looked in their new American specs – they were just excited to see clearly for the first time in years.

Quit dying! Live like you’re dying.

I felt exhausted but so happy on the dusty drive back. As I rode and listened to music, Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying” came on and choked me up a bit. The long, cold hallways of the hospital back home felt very far away and I was honestly relieved. No phone calls, no irritated specialists, no heated discussions with patients over narcotic prescriptions. I entered medicine like many people before me: to help people and make a difference in their greatest time of need. But like many people before me, after a few years I found myself burnt out and a little calloused. I’m not sure I was walking the hospital floors with the mindset to live like I was dying. I was…well…mostly dying. Or at least losing inspiration.

#winning at medicine.

Not to go all Patch Adams on you (which I recently rewatched and cried during), but the man has a point. “You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I’ll guarantee you’ll win.” In Peru, I began to remember “the person.” And remembered myself as a person too. The reality is, no matter how glamorous medicine looks from the outside, you face hard days. Yes, you see dramatic recoveries when people never should have made it through. But you also do the dirty work. You see people at their worst. You see your own worst. Things can go wrong. People get misjudged. And all of that can end in a lot of hurt – for both the patients and the providers.

This cycle is true in both America and in Peru. But this trip reminded me there is more to medicine than the system we get stuck in. There was something about operating “outside” the system that felt back to my roots. Back to why I entered medicine in the first place. The people we treated were grateful just to be seen by a provider. No one cared about titles. No one blamed anyone for their issues. They felt loved and that they mattered. I left the trip re-inspired, and with a little extra kick in my step for those hospital hallways back home too. 

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Something New recently sent a group of medical professionals to Peru to host a health clinic in San Juan. The team included a doctor, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, acupuncturist, nurse, and dental hygienist. This is an account from Lindsay, a physician assistant who practices hospital medicine in the Atlanta area. 

As a little girl, Lucia dreamed of being an aerobics instructor. When she wasn’t selling trinkets to tourists in the streets, she’d make up dances in her room and imagine herself leading aerobics for hundreds of people in the plaza. But that all changed one day when she saw an airplane on TV. “I saw the flight attendants on the plane and knew that’s where I wanted to be.”

From then on, all of her dreams were about flying.

 “I’d imagine myself serving people on the plane. I’d travel to India and America. I’d meet new people and learn new languages.” 

For the last six years,the reality of being a young, single mom shifted her focus from the sky to providing a safe and happy life for Roberto and Joaquin, her two sons. 

“I didn’t have much support when I had Roberto. I had to repeat a year of high school because I missed so many days. Then a few years later I had Joaquin. My focus shifted to being their mom and providing for them, but I finished high school because I want my boys to see a good example. I want them to be successful and have a mom they can look up to.” Lucia’s eyes filled with tears as she talked about what she wanted for her sons. And then she looked to the sky and smiled,  “I also still want to fly.” 

Fly – (v.) to be carried through the air by the wind or another force or agency 

Lucia’s heart to take care of her sons has grounded her for a little while, but your love can be the force that makes her dreams a reality.  

Help Lucia attend flight attendant training. DONATE today!

Ruth Carina was seventeen when we met her and her newborn daughter in the shelter for women in Cusco. Now, a year later, she has finished high school and works two jobs to provide for herself and Yhandy. Her dream is to start nursing school in the fall. And we are going to help her do it. 

In the park last week, we asked her about her dream.

When did you first dream of becoming a nurse? 

When I was eight, my little sister Lordes burned her leg very badly. I don’t remember how it happened. Maybe an oven. No one was watching us. We didn’t have access to a hospital. I wanted to help my sister, but I didn’t know how. From that day on I wanted to become a nurse.

As I’m watching you tend to your daughter Yhandy, it’s obvious that you love to care for other people. Can you tell me about some times in your life when you’ve taken care of others? 

I love helping other people. I’ve worked full-time since I was 11. I’ve never had much, but I try to help people anyway I can.

I’ve always helped my two younger sisters buy school supplies and food when they don’t have what they needed.

 And one time, I helped a very old grandmother in the street. The grandma was asking for money. I didn’t have much, but I gave the grandma what I had.

In high school, I always shared what I had with my classmates. If I had fruit, I would share it all. If I had money and my friends needed a photocopy of their homework assignment, I would lend them a few cents for the copies.

If you had all the money in the world right now, what would you do? 

I would go to nursing school. And I’d help my little sisters. 

Would you want a new house, new clothes or anything else? 

(She thought about this question for a while, then smiled).

No. I just want to go to nursing school.

DONATE today to help Ruth Carina’s dream become a reality!