Salud Comcáac Team Meets COVID Challenges of 2021

By: Dr. Laura Monti, Borderlands Restoration Senior Fellow, Research Associate, University of Arizona Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and The Southwest Center

When in June of 2021 the third wave of COVID hit the remote Comcáac villages of Punta Chueca and Desemboque, the Salud Comcáac team who formed at the onset of COVID-19 to assist these communities, including BRN Senior Fellow Laura Monti, was prepared. The Comcáac are indigenous people that occupy their autonomous territory in the coastal desert of the State of Sonora, Mexico.

Local Seri health promoters who received training during the initial response, Omar Casanova and Isabela Morales, mobilized quickly along with expert herbalists, and Secretary of Health physician Dr. Diego Franco to address the health needs of the villages. Our generous partners including the Amazon Conservation Team responded immediately providing additional funds needed to cope with this surge. For this outstanding work, the Salud Comcáac team was honored by Mexico’s National Secretary of Health.

Cristina Molina, Filomena Barnett, and Laura Molina, Centro de Salud y Medicina Tradicional Punta Chueca.

Desemboque Health team: Omar Casanova, Mayra Estrella, Isabel Morales, and Vilma Morales.

Salud Comcáac Desemboque team: Dr. Franco (center), Omar Casanova (right).

Laura Monti with patient Eleazar Lopez, recovering in the clinic.

The two Rural Health Centers are now better equipped and operating in Desemboque and Punta Chueca with running water and electricity, combining modern medicine and traditional medicine. Internet and cell phones are supporting telemedicine and other vital communications. Additional space was refurbished with equipment and additional beds, thanks to the Fundación Tichi Muñoz and FESAC, Nogales. Early intervention with 24 hour care, oxygen concentrators and herbal treatments has so far avoided Covid related deaths and reduced hospitalizations. In addition to delivering integrative care to over 100 COVID patients, the team also served 300 Comcáac community members for issues unrelated to COVID in 2021.

Dr. Ana Luisa Weildfeld Gomez, Medical Coordinator from Pitiquito.

Restoration of the traditional medicine clinic building.

Medicinal plants.

Desert Healers Filomena Barnett, Guadalupe Romero, and Betina Romero.

Between COVID surges, seven members of the Salud Comcáac team earned a diploma in health promotion from El Colegio de Sonora facilitated by Dr. Catalina Denman and other public health expert mentors. These students are the first indigenous students to complete this innovative and rigorous applied course thanks to financial support from the University of Arizona Southwest Center and donors.

Salud Comcáac Punta Chueca team: Filomena Barnett, Pati Barnett, Gema Torres, and Laura Molina.

Mangrove medicine herbalists Filomena Barnett and Cristina Molina.

Herbalist Vilma Morales presents medicinal plants used for respiratory illness at the Comcáac-Mayo traditional medicine exchange supported by Fondo Acción Solidaria and Cobanaras.

Salud Comcáac is rooted in traditional knowledge and is carried out at the invitation of the Comcáac community governing authorities and in collaboration with the Sonoran Secretary of Health. ​
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Oceans of gratitude to all that supported this work and to those that worked tirelessly to provide health care in these communities! 
 
Check out the next blog in this three part blog update about work happening with the Comcáac Indigenous communities!

Para leer la versión en español de este blog, por favor dé click aquí.