Meet the Flying Samaritans

This story was published in the Summer 2023 Issue of SDSU Magazine.

A palpable excitement fills the air of a dimly lit assembly room in Tijuana. On this cold Sunday morning in March, San Diego State University students try on navy shirts and pants emblazoned with the Flying Samaritans logo. This is their first official uniform as medical service providers. As volunteers for the international student-run nonprofit, many hope to become doctors one day.

More experienced volunteers, already dressed in their scrubs, retrieve PVC pipes and curtains to erect makeshift stalls where local patients will meet privately with medical providers.

Outside, more students set up folding chairs, sweep up bird droppings from the pigeons living in the eaves and organize boxes of multivitamins on tables. Others carefully alphabetize prescription medications in the pharmacy. In the dental room, the student coordinator and pre-dental assistants sanitize and arrange instruments on chairside trays.

A sudden clanging of a bell pierces the air, beckoning parishioners of the church next door to attend morning Mass and signaling that the free medical services offered by the SDSU students and partner providers are now available.

Since 2011, the SDSU chapter of the Flying Samaritans has organized monthly medical clinics across the border, and together with physicians, dentists and physical therapists from San Diego and Baja California, they provide complimentary consultations, medications and treatments to dozens of residents of an underserved community. To support this effort, the Flying Samaritans rely on donations, fundraising and student dues to cover expenses and purchase more than 200 medications.

“We are more than just a student organization — and we take that very seriously,” says Michiko Adams, president of the group and a ’23 graduate who double-majored in biology and Spanish. “We are here to provide much-needed services. This opportunity to help our patients is a privilege.”

As the first rays of morning light start to peek through in the small Mexican town of La Morita, Soledad Izquierdo Reyes, a 79-year-old resident, starts walking the 15 minutes from her home to the SDSU clinic. The trek through her neighborhood’s steep streets is worth it to her because, with the help of the Flying Samaritans, she has been able to manage multiple chronic health conditions, including diabetes and glaucoma. The Flying Samaritans were even able to give her a glucometer and test strips for at-home care.

Izquierdo Reyes has been coming to the clinic since before the COVID-19 pandemic, when the SDSU group collaborated with Build a Miracle, a U.S. nonprofit that provides housing and education resources.

“I’m very happy with your services. Everything, everything!” Izquierdo Reyes says to Adams in Spanish. “I don’t know how to express my thanks enough.”   Izquierdo Reyes appreciates how kind and well-educated the SDSU students are, and she encourages her family and other community members on a budget to come to the clinic, especially for dental care like cleanings, fillings and extractions.

“People don’t realize that access to dental care is a luxury,” Adams says.

The licensed dentists who Flying Samaritans partner with teach patients how to brush their teeth and take care of their mouth.

“Being able to teach other pre-dental volunteers more dental knowledge, I honestly felt like I was a dentist,” says Victoria Vongkaysone, SDSU biology graduating senior and dental clinic coordinator.

But her most beloved aspect of participating in a clinic isn’t the career development or the friendships she has made.

“One of the best experiences is seeing how happy the patients are after. They’re just so appreciative,” Vongkaysone says. “They’re really good patients.”