Chicago medical student skips class to help care for newly-arrived migrants
CHICAGO (CBS) – She's training to become a doctor but is now cutting class to form a mobile medical unit to help migrants arriving in Chicago.
CBS 2's Noel Brennan hit the streets with the team to see how they're caring for the community.
Most students don't cut class for a good cause. Sara Izquierdo is a first-year medical student at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"Right now, I'm missing a pathology study session, so not an official class, but still would've been nice to attend," said Izquierdo, adding she can "catch up this weekend."
She's taking a break from studying to sort medication in Dr. Evelyn Figueroa's kitchen.
Figueroa is a doctor of family medicine at UI Health and director of the Pilsen Food Pantry which has been helping provide food, clothing, and health care to new migrants.
"The thing about grassroots is that you're doing it inside of basements and inside of kitchens and doorways and outside of buildings, et cetera," Figueroa said. "You just do things where you need to make them happen."
Together, with Figueroa's husband who is also a doctor, Izquierdo and other UIC medical students form a mobile medical team.
Their patients are migrants who've been living in the lobbies of Chicago police stations.
"There's anywhere from 50 to 80 people in the police stations right now sleeping on the floor and haven't had any health assessments yet and we're trying to at least do that for them," said Izquierdo.
All of the medications they sorted and packed will be handed out to asylum seekers, most of whom haven't seen a doctor since crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
"So far, we've had at least three couples who are sick," said Izquierdo. "We've been able to give them cold medicine, listen to their lungs."
The team meets with more than 30 migrants inside District 20.
"Even things like cough drops are just a welcome relief and we're happy that we're able to provide those," she added.
Izquierdo could be in class, but she'd rather be caring for this community.
"It's worth cutting class," she said. "This is why I went to med school."
Izquierdo and fellow medical students also checked on people staying at the 12th District police station. From there, they visited more than 70 migrants who moved into a new emergency shelter set up this week in Pilsen.
All the care given to migrants by the medical students and doctors is free and all of the medication is provided thanks to donations.
