Healing Work in Paradise

by Nancy Mills


Mark and I just got back from a wonderful week on the beach in the Mexican jungle. We stayed at a unique holistic resort called Mar de Jade in Chacala, north of Puerto Vallarta. We took two yoga classes a day, joined a group trip to the Isla de Coral for snorkeling, hiked through the jungle to an undeveloped beach, ate delicious Mexican food, swam in the Pacific and in the pool and met lots of terrific people. But there’s more to this resort than just a vacation.

Mar de Jade is owned and run by Laura Del Valle, MD, MPH. Laura is a talented and inspiring Boomer who grew up in both Chicago and Mexico City. She is bilingual and bicultural, a true healer who has integrated her resort with her medical clinic called Casa Clinica, which she founded in 1983.

Casa Clinica is in Las Varas, about 15 minutes away from the resort. The Clinic serves landless Mexican farmers who are employed seasonally and earn the equivalent of about six dollars a day. Laura encourages American physicians, nurses and other medical people to come and stay at Mar de Jade while working in her clinic. It’s a great concept…doing service while having fun and enjoying a break from winter up north!

I met a young woman at the pool who is a medical student. She was visiting Mar de Jade with her parents, both of whom are doctors. They all spent about three half-days a week at the clinic, improving their Spanish and helping the staff. The pace is slow and more emphasis is put on the psychosocial issues around medical care than is usually the case in the United States. The Mar de Jade website describes the need:

At the clinic, we see malnutrition, infectious diseases (such as amoebiasis, parasites, fungal skin diseases, tuberculosis, hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases), poisoning from field fumigants, alcoholism, and poor control of chronic metabolic and cardiac diseases for lack of medicines and routine check-ups. There is a tremendous need to help the patient recognize and cope better with the stress conditions in his/her life that go beyond the biological problems.

Mar de Jade also runs programs for community volunteers, so you don’t have to have a medical degree to be part of one of their volunteer programs. You can also go there to take Spanish lessons. And of course you can just be a tourista, hang out and walk their beautiful beach. But if you want a place for R&R that will allow you to give back and immerse yourself in another culture, Mar de Jade is worth the trip!

Surf's Up! Listen to the soothing sounds of Pacific Ocean surf rolling onto a Mexican beach