Health care Mexican style

One of the questions I get asked most is “What happens if you get sick in Mexico?”

This is a very real concern because where we live most of the residents are Snow Birds, or seniors who have retired and live in Mexico because it is so affordable.

When we returned to Mexico in January, we were sick already. We were recovering from a cold and sinus infection and had headaches which just wouldn’t stop. We thought a little clean air and sunshine would fix us up.

It didn’t.

The headaches persisted and we started asking questions. The semi-retired nurse who still works summers in Anchorage, Alaska, asked if we had taken our blood pressure.

“No!” we replied feeling immediately dumb. This should have been a normal health response, but we had always been so healthy and never had any blood pressure problems. We had neglected the obvious.

“Do you have a blood pressure taking device?” was our answer.

She didn’t, however there was a communal medical bag which did have one. We took our blood pressure and it was obviously too high, but we needed a second opinion and we wanted a doctor.

That same day we asked if one of the other snow birds who spoke fluent Spanish would join us on a trip to town where we believed we could find a doctor or nurse practitioner.

The town of Mulege is about 14 miles away with 7,000 people in the winter but only half of that in the summer. We had seen a new medical facility built last year but had no idea what kind of a facility it was.

This was a Saturday and we went in without an appointment, not knowing what to expect.

There was no other clients waiting so the receptionist asked our name and what was our problem.

Our friend responded that we were having headaches that wouldn’t stop.

A doctor was called and she sat us down and immediately took our blood pressure. Within five minutes from our arrival, the doctor gave her diagnosis that our blood pressure was way too high and we needed to bring it down.

She wrote a prescription and while we were there we asked about the medical facility. It was a clinic, not a full fledged hospital. It had four doctors assigned to it and she was the resident doctor and lived in an apartment upstairs.

The three other doctors, all men, rotated on duty and also spent much of there time traveling in the other reaches of their district to provide medical care at the homes and ranches.

The medical facility was very clean and neat and the doctor who attended us was very professional. She had completed medical school in La Paz one year ago and was assigned to the clinic in Mulege.

Her English was not perfect, however she understood more than she could speak. Her diagnosis was clear and she advised us to take the medication for five days and return for another visit.

We thanked her and went to the receptionist to pay for the visit. We asked the price for the visit to the doctor and the receptionist said “100 pesos or $9 American,” which we gladly paid. The medication from the local pharmacist was another $10 for 20 blood pressure pills.

Now we record our blood pressure regularly and it has dropped about 10 points on the low side, which seemed to be a major concern.

Are we satisfied with the Medical care in Mexico? Well the appointment we had in the United States the week before we left was canceled by the doctor. Who knows how long it would take to get another?