Clinica en la Frontera: Clinic on the Border
Started in 1974, the clinic began in a little house in Mexico, providing medical treatment to seven needy children. It later moved to the U.S. and has been treating impoverished Sonoran families for the last 34 years. Today, it is housed in the St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, about five miles from the U.S.-Mexico international border and some of the largest areas of poverty in the world.
The goal of the clinic is to provide free, specialized health services for children who suffer from serious diseases, illnesses and injuries and whose parents can not afford health care. Hands-on medical care in the areas of pediatrics, prosthesis, audiology, vision, physical therapy and speech pathology are offered to indigent Mexican families.
Several doctors and a full staff of volunteers provide their services to the clinic each month. Some patients can be helped right at the clinic. Those with more serious conditions or who need treatment that is not offered at St. Andrew's are referred elsewhere, such as the Shriner’s Institutes in Sacramento, Calif. and Spokane, Wash., for more extensive care.
The non-profit clinic takes in more than $1.5 million in donations each year, which go towards providing travel funds to families or towards purchasing specialized medical devices and other clinic necessities.
“It’s unbelievable,” Romero said. “These people are very, very poor. They haven’t traveled. Once you bring them here, they are so afraid. They go to a strange country with a different language. They don’t know how they’re going to be treated. …When they’re in the United States, they don’t spend a penny.”
All volunteers associated with the project would agree that the goodwill involved in making the clinic possible is something completely worthwhile. In many cases, St. Andrew’s gives new hope in the lives of children who would otherwise have none.
Watch the slideshow below to view some of the images commonly seen each month at the St. Andrew's Children's Clinic.