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 But these are not the patients — they are medical workers and
support staff keeping a saturated healthcare system running amid the
coronavirus pandemic.
Over a thousand nurses, medical technicians, and support workers who
live in the Mexican border towns of Tijuana, Tecate and Mexicali
work in the United States, Mexican census data shows. They staff
emergency rooms, COVID-19 testing sites, dialysis centers and
pharmacies.
Well over a thousand more clean contaminated hospital rooms and
biotech labs; wash doctors' scrubs and patients' bed sheets; and
provide in-home care to the elderly and others vulnerable to the
virus.
"From the receptionist to nurses, doctors, surgeons, and
pharmacists, there's cross-border workers in every single stage,"
said Paola Avila, vice president of international business affairs
at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
In recent weeks, U.S. officials and California hospitals raised
alarms about U.S. citizens living in Mexico crossing the border for
treatment as COVID-19 cases surged in Tijuana and Mexicali.
At El Centro Regional Medical Center, the largest hospital in
California's Imperial Valley, which employs dozens of cross-border
workers, a wave of such patients helped saturate the intensive care
unit and forced the hospital to begin airlifting people to hospitals
over 100 miles (160 km) away.
The healthcare workers are a reminder that in the interconnected
region the state also benefits from cross-border travel, at a time
when U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that infections in
Mexico are a risk for the United States and senior U.S. Department
of Homeland Security officials have expressed concerns about dual
nationals living in Mexico.
"This is a workforce that is needed in the hospital," said Dr.
Andres Smith, medical director of emergency services at Sharp Chula
Vista in San Diego.
Angel Esquivel, El Centro's base hospital trauma manager, who
coordinates the flow of patients with ambulance and helicopter
services, said living in Mexico enabled him to prepare better for
the recent rise in patients crossing the border.
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It gave him first-hand knowledge of how that outbreak was unfolding,
he said, "so we can have a picture of how that emergency can impact
our emergency room."
Emerald Textiles, the largest health care laundry service in San
Diego, said more than half its employees live in Tijuana.
"Without my people being able to cross the border it would be very,
very difficult for us," said president Jaye Park.
That concern was echoed by representatives of two hospital systems
in the San Diego area — Scripps Health and Sharp HealthCare — who
sent a letter to Trump administration officials in April warning of
a brewing public health crisis at the border, yet acknowledging the
health care system's dependence on cross-border workers.
"It is critical that our healthcare personnel be able to move
freely," the letter stated.
Hundreds are U.S.-born workers who reside in Mexico for personal or
financial reasons, Mexican data shows. Melody Thomas, a registered
nurse and director of clinical services for Scripps Mercy Hospital,
said she lives in Mexico because of her husband's immigration
status.
The majority of this workforce were born in Mexico and have dual
citizenship or U.S. work documents.
"The president says we Mexicans who live in Tijuana are carriers (of
the virus)," said Ada Loera, a janitor in a San Diego biotech
company researching a COVID-19 vaccine.
"But when the pandemic started, (our bosses) sent us email after
email saying we were essential personnel and that we were required
to come," she said.
(Reporting by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and
Chizu Nomiyama)
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