My medical and orphanage project in Mexico

Phoebe Cook

Second year Leeds University neuroscience student, Phoebe Cook, spent a month in Mexico in the summer, working with the paramedics of the Red Cross.

My name is Phoebe, I spent 4 weeks in Puerto Vallarta volunteering with the Cruz Roja (Red Cross), it was probably one of the best times of my life! There were some other volunteers in Mexico with me and we would go to the Red Cross in the evening time and weekends, as this is when there are usually the most emergencies to help with.

We learnt so many things over the month, we learnt how to take pulses, take blood pressure, strap a patient onto a spinal board, put in a cannula and set up a drip of saline or glucose. We also had a first aid course where we learnt how to do life support, CPR, and how to deal with fractures, cuts, haemorrhages, burns, and how to bandage. We even learnt how to make splints out of pretty much anything you might find lying around! We also got extremely dirty learning how to carry people away from danger if they are conscious/unconscious, or if there is a fire or shooting (I’m hoping this won’t come in handy!).

Phoebe tells us more about her 'typical day', which when working with paramedics was usually an evening or weekend shift.

We would show up at the Red Cross, hang out with the paramedics, and wait for a call-out. There would usually be around 2 or 3 call-outs on a weeknight, and on a busy weekend night there might be as many as 10! Being in the ambulances was really exciting, and pretty fun as on the way there they would usually blast out some music along with the siren, and you are thrown around a bit as all the streets are cobbled and you go so fast! I saw lots of different cases, many were car crashes, or people who had been knocked over, some pregnant ladies, drunk people, heart problems, I went to a drive-by shooting as well. When you are out there, you observe them working, you help fetching things from the ambulance that the paramedics need, you help with getting patients out of wherever they are and into the ambulance, and strapping them onto spinal boards and carrying them (if you’re strong!). In the ambulance you can also take pulses, blood pressure, set up intravenous solutions, also all of us volunteers got to insert a cannula whilst in the ambulance at least once, which was amazing. The ambulances take the patient to a hospital and then head back to the Red Cross unless there is another emergency waiting. If it gets late and you want to stay over, you have to sleep in your clothes and you may get woken up by a deafening bell that means there is an emergency! So you have to be prepared to slap yourself awake and be tired most of the time in Mexico!

The best things about the Red Cross project were actually being able to be involved in and help with the emergencies, you actually felt like you were doing something to help out instead of just watching them. And also the paramedics themselves, they are fantastic people, characters to say the least! You have to have a sense of humour as they are a bit mad, but they are so much fun and are very willing to help you learn things if you get involved. We ended up being really great friends with some of them and we are still in e-mail contact with them.

If you are going I would advise taking lots of white collared t-shirts and definitely more than one pair of blue trousers. I learnt the hard way! You do get really dirty doing the Red Cross. I would also recommend having at least basic Spanish, as it can be difficult to keep up with some of the paramedics! But I would recommend the project to anyone who is interested in medicine or nursing or being a paramedic. It was an amazing and unique experience and I would honestly go back in a second.

Phoebe was based in Puerto Vallarta but placements like this are available in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. The placements in Guadalajara are busier during the day so mean fewer weekend and evening shifts.

To follow in Phoebe's footsteps and join the medical project in Mexico, Click here>>