Dra Susana Lua Nava, a palliative care physician based in Guadalajara, Mexico, spoke to over 200 North Americans and locals at Open Circle on the Lake Chapala Society grounds in Ajijic, Mexico about pain relief for chronic conditions and end-of-life.
Her passionate presentation about the unmet needs in Jalisco state and throughout the country triggered many questions from the audience, plus more interest in bringing such services to the lake. Lake Chapala is about an hour’s drive from Mexico’s second largest city Guadalajara. An estimated 20,000 North Americans reside there during high season.
It is a goal of Dra Lua’s non-profit Juntos Contra el Dolor, A.C., (United Against Pain), http://www.juntoscontraeldolor.com, to educate communities throughout Mexico about what palliative care is, and show how to offer comfort care to those with life-limiting diseases. Ideally, there would be models for this care in each state. Currently, palliative care is primarily found in three large cities at regional hospitals – Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey.
In 2009 the Ministry of Public Health of Mexico established guidelines for palliative care entitling all residents of the nation to relief from pain. The challenge has been that most people do not know exactly what palliative care is, nor where to find it. Palliative medicine is often confused with pain clinics which may offer medications but do not necessarily include a holistic support team for the patient and family members during such trying times.
As of yet, there is no dedicated palliative care/hospice team – physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, clergy, and volunteers working together at Lake Chapala. There have been previous efforts to establish a hospice. (The main cities at the lake are Ajijic, Chapala, San Juan Cosala, and Jocotopec. It takes around 40 minutes to drive from Chapala on the east end to Jocotopec on the western end).
There are a number of highly talented retired palliative care and hospice administrators, physicians, nurses, clergy, social workers, and others from Canada, the U.S., South Africa, and other countries at the lake. Several groups have formed to discuss how to establish a service that can serve all populations and will endure.
DVDs of the chat by Dra Lua can be ordered at http://www.opencircle-ajijic.org
I performed a Cliff Notes version of Dr. Lua’s talk as there was much to cover in a short amount of time.
A week after the presentation to North Americans, Dr. Lua gave a public health talk on the same subject to local Mexicans at the Ajijic Cultural Center.
Wellness Shepherd 
Excellent Ms Carrel!
Dra Susana Lua Nava’s Juntos Contra el Dolor is thankfully moving forward with activities at Lake Chapala where there is no formal palliative care or hospice. As of two weeks ago there are patients at the lake whom she and others drive to see. She hopes to have an office for the non-profit work in the next three months. The vision is to collaborate with and include the enormous retired palliative care/hospice talent from North America living full or part-time at the lake.