Pediatrician Dr. Sandy Newmark has been volunteering at the St. Andrew's Children's Clinic in Nogales, Ariz., for 15 years.

He was first involved with the clinic as an intern and resident at the University Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz.

He now has his own practice, the Center for Pediatric Integrative Medicine, near Saint Joseph's Hospital on the east side of town, which he started four and a half years ago, after working in general pediatrics for 12 years.

Dr. Newmark estimates that he has helped approximately 1,000 children throughout his years of volunteering at St. Andrew's. Very often he sees patients that he has helped in the past. One patient was five years old when Newmark first worked with him at the clinic. Now he is 18.

"I find this extremely rewarding." he said. "You give help to people who really, really need it and can't find it anywhere else.

Working at this particular clinic for so many years, Dr. Newmark has received hands-on experience with cases that he would be unlikely to encounter at a regular clinic.

"For a lot of people this is the only place they can get any hope at all, he said.

Not all conditions can be treated, but with the medications that the clinic provides a lot of them can be improved.

On Thursday, April 3, the most common condition Dr. Newmark encountered was seizures in children and teenagers.

As he studied the behavior of the children, he asked their family about the progress or regression that the patient made based on their observations. From there, Dr. Newmark either adjusted or maintained the current medication dosage.

Dr. Newmark explained that adjusting the dosage of medicine isn't something that he usually does, but because he makes an exception for St. Andrew's because of the minimal medical staff.

At his practice in Tucson he only works with these patients if they have diet, nutrition, and/or behavior related issues.

"I do have kids with seizures, but in Tucson I don't adjust their seizure meds," he said. "That's always for a pediatric neurologist."

Common conditions that Dr. Newmark regularly sees in his patients at his Tucson practice are Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), chronic pain, allergies and asthma.





Watch the video below to see Dr. Sandy Newmark working with patients in Nogales and Tucson.





Read About...

Patient: Daniel Quintero
Pediatric Neurologist: Dr. John Gray
UA Medical Student: Rebeca Arias
Volunteer: Pini Paredes



Return to the St. Andrew's Clinic index page