McKee registered dietitian prepares for medical mission trip to Mexico
LOVELAND, Colo. (Jan. 19, 2009) – A registered dietitian with McKee Medical Center will accompany a group from Boulder on its annual mission trip to Mexico this month.
Elizabeth Long, MS, RD, provides nutrition education to patients in Loveland and surrounding communities. This will be her first trip to Mexico with the Boulder group, which has made the trip annually since 1990.
The group, made up of staff and volunteers from Boulder Community Hospital, Boulder Rotary and the Boulder medical community, travel to Manté, Mexico. About 100 clinicians go for 10 days to set up a clinic.
“I’ll be serving as their only dietitian,” Long said. “They told me to expect to see 70 to 80 patients a day.” Long will receive help from a translator to counsel the patients on nutrition and diabetes. Diabetes is a prevalent problem in Mexico, she said.
Long is filling in this year for the regular dietitian who wasn’t available.
“I am just excited for the experience to be working with another population and be able to give back. I love what I do and love to donate my time doing what I love to do,” she said.
Long will stay with a host family in Mexico. Ciudad Manté is a city of more than 112,000 people about eight hours south of Brownsville, Texas. The trip takes place at the end of January.
According to information from the Boulder Community Hospital’s public relations office, the goals of the mission project are to provide high quality specialized medical treatment to the poor; to train local doctors and nurses in medical/surgical techniques; to build bridges between Boulder and Ciudad Manté, Mexico, and to furnish short-term volunteer/mission experience for area health care clinicians.
In 2008, the team:
- Saw more than 6,009 patients.
- Performed 346 audiology exams.
- Fitted 380 people with hearing aids.
- Performed 258 surgeries.
- Performed 269 adult eye surgeries and 29 pediatric eye surgeries.
- Fitted and dispensed 1,151 pairs of eyeglasses.
For more information or to visit with Long, please call (970) 635-4031. To learn more about the mission, call Rocky Abbott with Boulder Community Hospital, (303) 440-2342.
