Flying angels among us

Imagine eight doctors and dentists landing in Saratoga and setting up a clinic for those who don’t have health care. That’s exactly what long-time local pilot Bill Rush and marketing executive Tom Hogan do in Mexico: they fly doctors and dentists in their private planes to small towns on the other side of the border, set up a clinic, and treat indigenous people who have no access to medical treatment.
Sometimes these clinics consist of a lawn chair for the patient with a volunteer holding a flashlight so the dentist can see into the back of the mouth, but the patients don’t mind. There might be as many as 200 people waiting all day long for a chance to see one of the volunteer doctors and dentists, who come around ten times a year. They’re just happy that their neighbors to the north are sharing some of the wealth. Not all of the work requires wealth, however. According to Tom, they call Bill “McGyver”, because he can fix just about anything with very few tools, once repairing a dental suction unit with an empty two-liter bottle of soda and duct tape.
Inspired by their work with Los Medico Voladores, or Flying Doctors, ten years ago, Bill and Tom founded Comunidad Para Baja California eight years ago to help people in remote areas of Mexico not covered by other organizations like Doctors without Borders. As Bill puts it, “We used to take monthly trips with our friends to Mexico. Our friends had families and they all grew up, but I didn’t. He figures that if you’re going to take a vacation in Mexico and pay for hotels anyway, you might as well do some good at the same time, especially when the need is so great.
The doctors and dentists not only donate their time, they pay for the flying expenses—but not the maintenance of the plane—out of their own pockets. Each of the four people in the plane, including the pilot, pays around $250 for the four-day “vacation.” The medical necessities are paid for through donations, one hundred percent of which are used on one of three types of projects: medical, educational, and infrastructural. For example, Comunidad has built bathrooms and installed electricity, fans and septic systems in schools. In addition, they’ve constructed dental clinics that benefit the whole community.
Bill said that in the future, they hope to have videos people can watch while waiting in line to teach them how to brush their teeth properly, and other health tips. When asked why he spends so much time, money and effort with Comunidad, he replied, “It’s not like I have to do it; I get to do it. I do it for me. It fills me up.”
He also said that some people have asked him why he goes so far away when we have homeless people with no medical care right here in California, and he said that for the same amount of money, they are able to help countless more people in Mexico, and don’t have to get permits and licenses and pay fees like they would in America.
At the current time, Comunidad is funding approximately 140 children to go to school through a program called Beca. Because the government only funds tribal children through the sixth grade, Comunidad uses $200 a school year to help students pay their tuition for the higher levels and buy school supplies, uniforms, books and transportation to the new town, since all higher-level schools are outside tribal communities.
On average, Comunidad Para Baja California receives $10,000 per year in outside funding, with the rest of the operating fees donated by the organization’s Board of Directors. If you’d like to donate, contact Tom Hogan at (408)355-0108. To volunteer, contact Bill Rush at (408)499-5088, or visit their website at www.bajacomunicad.org.