On the first Thursday of every month, St. Andrew’s Children's Clinic changes the lives of the 200 to 300 patients and families who walk through the door.

The ultimate goal of the clinic is to provide care to children, whose relentless families that travel from Mexico and continue that care as long as it is needed.

But right now, it is at a crossroads.

Because the clinic is held at St. Andrew’s Church in Nogales Ariz., it’s hard to have it more than once a month. To offer services more frequently, the clinic would need to have its own facility and get the medical practitioners to donate more of their time.

According to Bob Phillips, the clinic's executive director, there are changes ahead.

A building campaign was started last year and Phillips recently signed a $500,000 grant from the Chamberlain Produce Company. A new building would allow the clinic to expand and get advanced technological equipment.

“Right now, we don’t have any medical or diagnostic equipment,” Phillips said. “With the new facility, we would be able to provide lab work, x-rays, and privacy for the patients.”

In order for this to happen, the clinic needs to have sufficient funding to construct the building, which would be on a piece of land near St. Andrew’s Church.

There are three key issues that play a role for the future:

They need to attract older, talented medical personnel to provide care to the children; they need to get a number of volunteers who can carry out staff functions; and they need to be able to transfer more care to Mexico.

The latter of the three is especially important because, often times, coming to the clinic is the only time these families get treated. Most of them don’t have healthcare, and therefore, do not get treated at home.

“We want kids to get care in Mexico,” Phillips said. “Many patients could be treated in Mexico with the right equipment.”



The clinic is doing what it can to fulfill this goal.

In November, trainers from the clinic will participate in a workshop in Sonora, Mexico where they will train special education teachers who can work with children. The goal is to eventually provide extra care once the families have been seen at the clinic.

The clinic is also limited in the services it can provide, so expanding that is also a main focus.

Physical therapy, one of the biggest departments on the clinic day, takes place near the pews in the church sanctuary.

“Mats are on the floor for physical therapy and that’s very different from a regular physical therapy facility,” Phillips said. “It’s amazing what we can do, but we have limitations.”

So, what are some other goals Phillips has in mind to make the clinic even better?

“We want to strengthen the core services and do it better,” Phillips said. “We want to recruit more practitioners and EMTs. We want to provide a good experience.”

Phillips is also trying to make a case for those in Phoenix as a way to increase the scope of the clinic and to make changes for kids and families.

The fact that there are over 12 different departments proves that the medical staff and volunteers are doing things right when it comes to care.

“We know kids are suffering from their conditions,” Phillips said. “We are creating a system of care … you can’t not love what happens here.”