It seems that our Puerto-Peñasco.com blogs are being read by people from all over. Recently Paul and Nikki Schifano from St. Louis contacted me as they have a foundation formed in the United States and wanted to see what they can do to be make a difference here. Enter Loly Martinez of Rocky Point Medical Clinics and the Words of Hope Community Center. We sat down over lunch at the Kaffee Haus to discuss the needs of the Medical Clinic and community center and how to be able to reach more people in the poor San Rafael area of Puerto Peñasco. As was mentioned previously in a story, the center was feeding 120 children and older people 2 times per day, but do to lack of funding to buy food, it had to be reduced to 1 time per day.
Loly took Paul and Nikki on a tour of the facility, which now has the dental clinic almost finished, Physical therapy building and kitchen complete. It also has it’s own pharmacy, an eye clinic as well as the area for fitting prostheses. The were impressed to say the least and donated money on the spot for food. They along with other family members will be coming back in May to see how they can help. This community center is in that area that need people like Paul and Nikki.
The medical clinics are being held twice a month at the center, where they generally see over 150- 200 people with all sorts of needs. They have teams of doctors and nurses who come from the US to help treat all of these people. Loly explained to me today, that in the future, eye appointments, dental appointments and fitting for the artificial limbs will be by appointment only as they can only handle about 3 or 4 per day. She then showed me a picture of a lady who got new dentures made at the clinic on March 11th and what a happy beautiful smile she had. They are not just giving these things away, but having the people make a small contribution to receive these things. This is to insure that once fitted, they will come back. Recently they fitted a woman for an artificial leg and these are custom made to fit the person and run about $5,000.00 USD. The leg came in and she has never come back and they can’t use it on someone else, so it is a total loss. They also feel the people appreciate it more when they feel like they are contributing to get what they need.
The driving force behind this Words of Hope Community center is Dr. George Stavros and his wife Susie. They give tiredly of their time and resources to see that this center keeps moving forward. Today my husband Bill and volunteered to go out and package pills. One of the other helpers, remarked, some people count money and some are counting pills.
Dr. George stated that at the clinic being held on April 8th they will also be doing 2 hernia operations out at the Rocky Medical Center just north of town. They recently did a hip replacement at the same clinic and have another one that will be done soon. The 2nd clinic will be held on April 22nd and that is just a regular clinic that goes from 9 am- 3 pm.
If you would like to know how you can help, please feel free to contact Loly at 383-3480 or 638-690-1531 or email her at Loly.martinez@rpfog.com. You can also check out their website at www.rockypointmedicalclinics.com . There is always a need for volunteers to help with something out there, so don’t hesitate to call her. If you have food or cash to donate she can arrange to meet you where ever you are at.
You can also always contact me at nocomosi@msn.com or via Puerto-Peñasco.com comment below and I will point you in the right direction. The weather here in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico is beautiful so come down and stay at any of our hotels like Playa Bonita or Laos Mar or any of the condos that are on the beach like one of the Sonoran Resorts.
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