Gloucester resident Lourdes Travieso-Parker traveled to Puerto Rico as an interpreter with the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps (RAM-USA) in mid-December. It was both a mission and a homecoming.

Travieso-Parker’s parents were both Puerto Rico natives and, although she was born in New York City, she feels strong ties to the U.S. territory and has visited it many times over the years. So when she learned that a team with RAM-USA needed an interpreter to travel with them in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria, Travieso-Parker volunteered. Although she didn’t have a medical background, she already had experience as an interpreter for the Three Rivers Health District’s Medical Reserve Corps.

 The job of the Tennessee-based RAM team was to carry medical services to people in the northwestern area of Puerto Rico, which still hasn’t recovered from the effects of being slammed twice during the 2017 hurricane season.

The area is “far from the...