Volunteers step in to keep asylum seekers healthy on border

(AP) TIJUANA, Mexico – Medical volunteers have been thrust into a new role in Mexico border towns as they provide care for a growing migrant population. Many immigrants arrive at the border in poor health, and they get little medical help from the Mexican and U.S. governments. Volunteers are filling the void and often have to carry out improvisational medical tasks while working with limited donated medications and equipment. Besides giving patients a pill for pain relief, the doctors might need to direct them to legal help for their cases while offering a listening ear as a kind of therapist to a population suffering deep trauma from violence in their homelands.