Ask Ramón Recién why business in his shuttle company, with services mostly to Nogales, Douglas and Phoenix, has gone down, you might expect to hear it is due to drug violence or increased vigilance by the Border Patrol. The actual answer is a little more obvious than that.
“It’s the economic crisis,” says Recién.
He opened Garcia’s Shuttle two years ago to make a living and to serve the community. However times have changed and his company might soon be forced to shut down.
“In other times,” says Recién, “business was very good but right now it’s very slow.”
“We can’t maintain ourselves like we used to,” says Luís Alberto López Hernandez, a driver for Sahuaro Shuttle.
Bringing people down to the border for visits with family and friends has been the mainstay of shuttle companies. The vast majority of clients are of Mexican descent and have some sort of family connection to the region. To pick up a child or to spend a weekend with the grandparents, the maintaining of ties to family and friends appears to be the major motive for Mexican clientele. But even these have slowed down in recent years.
Hernandez drives his shuttle from South Tucson to Nogales and back twice daily since he started working as a driver two months ago. Originally from Sonora, he is no stranger to the border area. He used to make the trip down to visit every three to four months. But when the economic crisis began in 2007, he started to feel the crunch along with many other Americans. He now only makes the trip to visit only once a year.
However, there is one group of boarder travelers that has not died down.
Arís, a high school student who moved from Santana, Sonora, to Tucson three years ago, goes to Nogales while she is, “on the way to Santana to visit family or when I need to visit the dentist.”
With the economy the way it is, many Americans are coming down to Nogales and other border towns to take care of dental work and to buy their medicines. According to a 2010 University of Arizona study about 750,000 traveled abroad to receive medical treatment due to lower prices.
“The prices here are better than in the U.S. We all know that,” says Diana Hernandez, a dental assistant at Dental Smiles, right at the border in Nogales, Sonora.
In possession of all the latest equipment and highly trained dentists, they offer not only better prices but service that is often equal to the care that one might receive in the U.S.
“Patients will come in,” continues Diana, “with a list of things that someone said they needed and it just is not true what is on there. It might say they need 20 fillings when in reality all they need is five.”
Becky and Abel, who provided only their first names, a couple from Florence made the trip to get a crown placed on Abel’s teeth.
“In the US,” says Becky, “a crown would cost us $680. Here it is only $340.”
Pharmaceutical prices are also lower.
While walking in the city one hears many callers including Abiel, who attracts American customers to his pharmacy with the enticement that the prices are “almost free!”
Monica Orozco, a pharmacist in Nogales says that the majority of the clientele who visit her pharmacy are American.
“Lots of women will come down here looking for skin cream,” Monica said. “Some have told me that they have found a brand in the U.S for more than $100. Here in Mexico it can be purchased at the same strength and in the same quantity for $32.”
Rising prices and the lack of insurance coverage has led to 80 percent of the customers at border clinics and pharmacies being American according to the 2010 U of A study. The tough economic times appear to be having a dual effect on the border region. Family bonds have become more difficult to maintain as a result of lower incomes stateside, but medical tourism continues to be a promising economic lifeline for many in need.
