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Laramie, 6, is shown how to brush his teeth.
Elfren holds his bag of gifts.
Diego, 4, gets his temperature checked.
Connie had a successful dental visit.
Some of the barracks at the Pungoteague Migrant Camp.
Wildon holds onto his prescription after getting a tooth pulled.
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Migrant Workers Receive
Free Medical Services
Efren wiped
the sweat from his brow. It was an early Saturday evening and the middle-aged
Mexican man had put in a long day picking tomatoes in the fields of Pungoteague,
Virginia. As his bus drove back to the camp, he noticed a white tent pitched
on the grounds. He soon learned that Operation Blessing, the Peninsula Christian
Free Clinic and Eastern Shore Rural Health System were holding a free medical
and dental clinic. “Good,” he thought. "Several teeth have
been hurting me."
A Father’s Sacrifice
It's been four years since Efren has seen his wife and two daughters. Not
able to find a steady job in Mexico, Efren decided to join the migrant circuit.
He gets misty-eyed when talking about how he misses his family. Speaking
with them by phone isn’t the same. Efren is on a migrant crew that
begins each harvest year in Florida and works its way up through to Georgia,
South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania. He is one of
over 4,000 migrant people that come each year to work on Virginia’s
Eastern Shore during harvest season.
Showered and dressed in black jeans, red shirt and worn tan cowboy boots,
Efren waited to see a team dentist. A smile crept onto his worn face when
steadying his great-nephew’s wobbly walk. His niece Leonides, her
husband and son recently joined the migrant circuit too. Soon his name
was called and his cavities were filled.
Efren is one of 143 patients that received free medical or dental care
and had prescriptions filled during our weekend medical mission. A team
of 50 dentists, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, translators and support
people volunteered their time to serve men, women and children originally
from Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua. Five medical centers
already exist in the area, but dental services aren’t offered yet.
“Good things are being said about you,” commented Nancy Stern,
CEO of Eastern Shore Rural Health System. “You are bridging the
gap especially by providing dental services. Building trust with the migrant
population is a must.”
A Mother’s Dedication For Education
Quiet in nature, Connie also came to see the dentist. For the last twelve
years she has spent her summers in the United States. After making a meager
salary teaching Spanish, math and science to elementary and high school
students during the school year in Nicaragua, she joins her husband in
Virginia. Beginning in June and ending in October, she sorts tomatoes
at a packing plant for 12-16 hour shifts while her husband is out in the
field. They work this hard so they can put their sons through school.
Their three sons are studying hard in Nicaragua. The eldest will graduate
from medical school in November. The youngest is 12. After her appointment,
Connie received a bag containing vitamins, Gatorade, a toothbrush, toothpaste
and a box of cereal bars. She says it is times likes these that make all
of the hard work worth it. She knows someone cares.
A Young Man’s Dreams
This is the first summer that Wildon, 24, has endured the summer heat
in a packing plant with hundreds of strangers. The Haitian-born man doesn’t
mind working long hours if it means he can study biology and business
in New Mexico. “I have my dreams and they will come true,”
he shared while waiting to get a tooth pulled at our clinic. Looking like
a basketball player, the 6’5” man came to the USA five years
ago and speaks French, Creole, English as well as a little Spanish. His
father came to the USA twenty-five years ago and worked in construction
until recently when his health began failing. His family’s financial
situation could bother him, but he chooses to press forward excited about
what’s coming. After the dentist packed his mouth with gauze, Wildon
still managed to give a smile and hug of thanks.
Efren, Connie and Wildon are just three of the people partners helped
through Operation Blessing during our second USA medical mission ever!
They come from three different countries and walks of life but all work
hard for a better future even though enduring pain. Thank you for helping
us treat their pain with free dental and medical services.
This is just the beginning of Operation Blessing’s USA-based medical
mission program. Please help us reach out to others suffering in the USA,
like those in Appalachia or the elderly who have no insurance. A gift
of $50 can provide medications for 15 patients or supply power for dentists
relieving the pain of 130 children with toothaches! We are beginning to
plan our next mission now, but we need your help!
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