Hospice Mazatlán IAP is a non-profit community based healthcare organization.
Last time I discussed how Mazatlán’s charity, Hospice Mazatlán, was providing to the citizenry more than what anyone would expect from such an organization. Lois Croly, the founder of the local charity, saw a need and went about filling it, although it was beyond palliative care.
Last year Hospice Mazatlán started providing grief counseling services to family members, and often to those whose family member had not been a patient of Hospice Mazatlán, but who had heard of the Grief Group. Then they took on another project the community was not searching for, although it was needed.
In the summer of 2013 Hospice Mazatlán was requested to create a program for four of the city’s poorer colonias; Villa Tutuli, Valle del Ejedo, Lomas del Ebano, and Francisco y Madero. Other organizations that had been asked to participate in this effort created programs around sports, cooking, crafts, etc. The Hospice team saw an opportunity to fill an unknown need. Lois and her staff designed two programs: “First Aid” and “Family Members with Disabilities.”
Each course consisted of 180 hours of training with two hour classes three times a week. They ran from August through December.
The disability program was written by Maribel, a Hospice nurse, and gave the attendees disability-appropriate information regarding parents, children, and other family members who lived with a disability, whether physical, mental or emotional. The attendees learned simple things, such things as how to transfer a patient from a bed to a wheelchair without injury to the person making the transfer and the correct way to bathe someone confined to a bed. 80 people signed up for this course and at its conclusion Hospice Mazatlán distributed walkers, canes, and hearing aids to those graduating for their disabled family member. For many, it was the first time they had had these aids to help them better cope with their challenges.
The First Aid course, written by Dr. Monica Lem, a Hospice volunteer and offered by Hospice Mazatlán in the four colonias, attained its maximum enrollment of thirty; a total of 120 people. At first it struck me as odd that there would be such a high attendance for a subject we all have covered in school and at our local fire departments and community centers. Lois reminded me that in México the subject of health is not taught in school and things we learned so many years ago that we now seem to know instinctively are foreign to most who live in these colonias.
The course taught things as basic as the anatomy and physiology of the body, which covers more than half of the course material. Additionally, the teacher instructed the students on how to treat cuts, abrasions, puncture wounds and burns, as well as how to perform CPR. What to do in an earthquake was also covered. Many do not realize that México is located atop three of the large tectonic plates and is one of the world’s most seismologically active regions. Time was also spent on glucose levels and the consequences of high and low blood sugar. These subjects may seem mundane to us, but they are intriguing to someone who knows little.
The First Aid course was such a success the Habitat program of the Ministry of Social Development (Sedesol) asked Hospice Mazatlán to teach it again this past summer, which it did, and once again enrollment topped out at 120.
Because hardly a day goes by that Hospice Mazatlán is not providing palliative care to a woman dying of some form of cancer, Lois and her staff in conjunction with Habitat, a Sedesol governmental funding source, decided to also create a cancer prevention course for women. When she told me those classes filled up quickly and within days they had 120 women enrolled, I was really surprised.
I know that planning ahead and prevention are not cultural norms of Mexicans. For example, 75 percent of Sinaloa’s drivers have no automobile insurance. The Ministry of Health says 90 percent of Mexicans suffer from tooth decay and last month the newspaper Noroeste reported that only 10 percent of Mazatlán’s children have ever been to a dentist.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among Mexican women. While the incidence of breast cancer in México is lower than in the United States, the mortality rate in México is almost double (37 percent vs. 18 percent). The reason is that the vast majority of the cases is self-detected and only 10 percent are detected in stage one; evidence of the lack of preventative action. According to the Mexican Association against Cancer (MAC) cervical cancer is the second leading cause of death in Mexican women. It is also estimated by MAC that every day 14 Mexican men die of prostate cancer. These are numbers that could clearly be reduced, if the Mexican culture were a proactive one.
So, why would a class on cancer prevention for women fill so rapidly? When I asked, Lois admitted that the women who wanted to sign up for the First Aid class were told the only way they could do that was to sign up for the Cancer Prevention class.
Her eagerness to fill the class was motivated by the fact she knows that of the 500,000 women around the world who develop cervical cancer each year, 88 percent live in developing countries. Related to that statistic is the fact that in the United States Pap smears have helped cut cervical cancer deaths in half by identifying women who need treatment. Among other things, Hospice wanted to teach the ladies not only the importance of a Pap smear, but also the necessity of following up on the test.
A 2008 study showed that in México the follow-up rate for this procedure was as low as 20 percent. Lack of follow up is attributable to both finances and ignorance. Lois told me of one lady whose Pap smear was positive for Papilloma virus, but she did not have the virus removed because, as she said, “I am a good girl and have never messed around, so they must have been wrong.”
The course’s discussion of cancer prevention focuses on breast cancer, cervical cancer and prostate cancer. The first two topics certainly made sense to me, but it would seem men would be the ones to address about prostate cancer.
To my surprise I learned from Lois that men in México do not have prostate exams. It’s just not done in this macho society. As unbelievable as it may sound, most Mexican men, for a variety of reasons, are totally uncomfortable with a rectal examination. So, the nurses at Hospice decided to approach the subject with the women who may be able to broach it with their husbands. Of all of Hospice Mazatlán’s male patients, the vast majority of them are terminally ill because of the ravages of prostate cancer, something that may well have been prevented.
In addition to cancer prevention the course provides the ladies with information about urinary tract infections and birth control.
As time passed, word spread among the ladies in these four colonias. Those in attendance of the Cancer Prevention course told their friends and neighbors the things they were learning and interest in cancer prevention grew throughout the communities.
The National Cancer Institute says that regular Pap screening can reduce the likelihood of dying from cervical cancer by at least 80 percent and one of the benefits of taking this course is that when the course concludes this month a local gynecologist, Dr. Maria de los Angels López, has agreed to give the attendees a Pap smear and provide them with the results. The cost is 350 pesos (about $25) and Hospice Mazatlán is paying for these exams for its students. Since Hospice Mazatlán has the names and addresses of the women having the Pap screening, Lois assured me the follow up rate will be 100 percent.
With other ladies in the community hearing about the ability to obtain a Pap smear and how it may well save their life, women who are not enrolled in the course are approaching the teacher asking if they can also get an exam. As encouraging as this is to Lois and the Hospice Mazatlán staff, Lois told me there are no funds to financially help these ladies, who have come to learn the benefits of preventive measures with a simple exam.
When I heard this I said, “I have never asked my readers to donate anything to anyone, but I am going to start today.” I cannot think of a greater altruistic action than this. If Hospice Mazatlán has gone to the effort to provide more than palliative care to our city’s poorer colonias and the ladies of those communities have learned the benefits of taking preventive action and want to take it, then the least we can do is see that their inability to come up with 350 pesos does not stop them from having a simple procedure that may well save their lives.
If your life circumstances are such that you have 350 pesos or $25 you could donate to a woman less fortunate so she can have a simple Pap smear, I encourage you to help. I know I do not have enough readers to generate the needed funds, so maybe you could tell a friend about our efforts.
If you are in Mazatlán, to make your donation you can stop by Hospice Mazatlán’s office at 208 Internacional, which is two blocks south of the Ley’s on Av. Ejercito Mexicana, or call Lois at 669-982-5472 or email her at lcroly@gmail.com to make other arrangements.
If you are outside of the city, you can make your donation through Hospice Mazatlán’s website at:http://www.hospicemazatlan.org
At the top right of the web page you will see “Donate.” Click on that and make your contribution. As you will see, the website is designed to accept only general donations and what I am asking for is not a general donation to Hospice Mazatlán, but a specific gift to help the ladies in these poorer colonias to obtain a Pap smear. So, after you make your donation, you must send Lois an email atlcroly@gmail.com and tell her you made a donation and it is intended for the Pap smears, otherwise it will be assumed it is a general donation.
Please note that the Pap smears will be given the first two weeks in December so do not delay.
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