The Past, Present and Future of St. Andrew's Children's Clinic
Monday, 18 April 2011 04:22
On the first Thursday of the month, 11 months a year, the St. Andrew’s Children Clinic is held in Nogales, Ariz.
Designed for children ranging in age from newborn to 18 years old, this clinic offers medical services to more than 2,200 patients a year who travel up to the U.S. from Mexico.
The clinic was started more than 35 years ago after a group of mothers, led by Coca Romero, had difficulty finding medical care in Mexico for their children suffering from disabilities.
The clinic, which originated out of a small house, has grown over the years and is now held in the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, just a few miles from the Mexican border.
The church is divided into multiple sections, providing specific medical areas for audiology, vision, orthopedics, physical 
therapy, pediatrics, speech therapy, dental, nutrition and more.
“You go to any station and you see a miracle happen,” said Laura Romero, executive director of the clinic and daughter of founder Coca Romero. “All the specialists help these children in some shape, way or form, and you see it.”
Doctors, medical students, tour guides and chefs are part of what makes up a large collection of volunteers from around southern Arizona that gather once a month to bring help to these families in need.
Some of the volunteers have been working with the clinic since its beginning, others continue to join each month.
"It totally varies,” Romero said. “But on average, we have 150 to 200 volunteers at every clinic.”
The volunteers work in numerous areas of the church, some in medicine, others in preparing snacks for the visitors, as well as fresh carne asada for the volunteers’ lunch.
In addition to the medical services provided, St. Andrew’s Clinic also provides an opportunity for families to collect some clothing and food before returning home.
The clinic offers a small pharmacy, stocked with basic medicine at a reduced price.
According to Romero, the cost of running the non-profit clinic is more than $1 million a year and could not be done without the help of donations.
“Ninety-two percent of all donations go directly towards clinic supplies,” Romero said.
While for now the church building satisfies the clinic’s needs, one day, St. Andrew’s hopes to collect enough money in donations to be able to afford a building of their own.
“We build up the clinic the night before and we tear it down the next day,” Romero said. “It would be nice to have that space for our children and our volunteers.”
That way, Romero said, some day they can help even more children.
Click here to go back to the St. Andrew's Clinic index page
Written by Erica Coleman You are reading The Past, Present and Future of St. Andrew's Children's Clinic articles
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