Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1146373
a small child said she had asked for bottled water to mix formula, but was denied. "That is cruel," said Rose. "Why would you do that to any human?" Nurses were not surprised to learn from their patients that they received little or substandard medical care while in detention. Many migrants told nurses they had their medications confiscated at the bor- der. "This mother had a son who was 15 and a daughter who was 8. The son had a history of asthma, so she had an albuterol inhaler and his other medications, all labeled with his name," said Kennedy. "The moth- er said that when they were getting ready to cross the border, the border patrol agent took the medications and threw them in the garbage." Kennedy said she and the others rushed to make sure the teen had an inhaler before leaving to meet the family's sponsors, but then they learned the same border agent had taken the 8-year-old girl's seizure medication. "We were all very upset. To throw away medica- tion—that to me is inhumane." Other migrants said they could keep their medications, but they were not allowed to take them while in detention. One woman suf- fered from hyperthyroid and hypertension and was forced to go without her daily medication for days while she was in federal cus- tody. "It was mind boggling to me," said Carellas. "She has the med- ication, she needs the medication, why can't she take the medication?" Dr. Anna Landau, a family medicine doctor who worked with the RNRN volunteers at Casa Alitas, shared with the New York Times her concerns about the medical care migrants are receiving in feder- al custody. "They're not treated as if their health and well-being is valued on any level," said Landau in the article. "How do you send people who are clearly hurting, clearly in pain and suffering, how do you just move them through as if they're just another number, as opposed to an actual human being?" Carellas said it appears some people get at least a cursory med- ical screening while in federal custody, but others did not even get that. She noted one bus that came from a San Diego detention cen- ter had several very sick children on board, including one with chickenpox, and two small children with fevers over 105 degrees. "Mom was just holding vigil over the 6-year-old. I was really wor- ried about him having a seizure," said Carellas. "We set alarms every three hours to give them fever medication around the clock because they were really sick." Perhaps more troubling was what Rose heard from one Guatemalan mother who came to the shelter complaining of severe stomach pains. The woman said she had pleaded to get medical care during the five days she was held in detention, but her complaints were ignored. The medical team at the shelter was alarmed by her condition and sent her to the hospital where she had emergency sur- gery to have her infected gall bladder removed. Left untreated, an 14 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G J A N U A R Y | F E B R U A R Y | M A R C H 2 0 1 9