2700 N. Military Trail, Suite 240 PO Box 273908 Boca Raton, Florida 33427-3908 1-800-914-2420 PROJECT 0517 Our Lady of Charity Health Clinic Lima, Peru Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18 WWW.CROSSCATHOLIC.ORG
Project Synopsis Description Help a Catholic medical clinic provide life-saving health services in a desperately poor shantytown. Purpose To demonstrate Christ s love and improve the lives of the poor through medical care and health education. Location Minas 2000, a slum on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Cost $1,650 per month, or $19,800 per year, helps staff the clinic with one doctor, two nurses and two pharmacists. Highlights Solidarity in Action, a Latin American association of lay Catholics, is dedicated to meeting the health care needs of the poor in Lima, Peru. With help from Cross Catholic Outreach in 2007, Solidarity in Action established Our Lady of Charity Medical Clinic in Minas 2000, a shantytown on the city s outskirts. The small, professionally operated clinic is the only accessible health center for hundreds of local residents. At no charge or for a token fee, the clinic offers vaccinations, prenatal care, pharmacy, routine exams and other important services. Educational campaigns in the local community raise awareness of health topics such as immunization, hygiene and proper food handling. Through this project, Solidarity in Action also reaches out to local schools with talks on domestic violence, family issues and the Catholic faith. Cross Catholic Outreach has committed to supporting the modest salaries of the clinic staff for one year. 1
The Need To live in Minas 2000 one of the many slums sprawled across the outskirts of Lima, Peru is to live without hope. The landscape in all directions is dust, rocks, pigsties, dirt roads, perilous hillside slopes and the makeshift shanties of the destitute. It never rains and there is no running water. There is also no escape from the odors and the heat (or in the winter, the damp and the cold). In Minas 2000, few trees or green things brighten the barren vista or provide shade from the sun. Far away on the horizon, a ghostly haze of skyscrapers is the only reminder that there is a better life beyond the slum s abject poverty. Given the bleakness of these surroundings, it is hard to imagine the desperation that has led thousands of families to settle in this dry, desert wasteland. It s hard to understand why the poor build homes here and raise children in this squalor. Most came in the 1990s to escape the sectarian violence plaguing the countryside, while others came seeking opportunities that turned out to be false hopes. The local climate has produced an epidemic of respiratory problems especially among the very young and the very old. Babies and the elderly are also the most vulnerable to gastrointestinal illnesses caused by the lack of good hygiene and sanitation. These and other treatable conditions are further exacerbated by the lack of medical care. When someone gets sick, their habit is to simply wait it out. They have no money to pay a doctor, and they know they won t get the help they need at an overcrowded, understaffed public hospital where patients are often placed on waiting lists for years. Without help, the most minor issues these poor families face can escalate into debilitating problems. For example, local children grow up walking barefoot on rough terrain, wearing cheaply-made sandals and developing bad posture. The cheap sandals hurt so much that they swap each shoe to the other foot to make it feel better. As a result, many of the children ultimately develop flat feet. If the problem is not addressed while they are young, they can lose the ability to walk long distances, play sports, stand for extended periods of time and find jobs that require physical exertion. Solidarity in Action, a Latin American association of lay Catholics, has taken notice of the health needs in the Minas 2000 slum and is relying on Cross Catholic Outreach to help make a difference. 2
Ministry Description In 2007, with help from Cross Catholic Outreach, Solidarity in Action opened Our Lady of Charity Medical Clinic in the Minas 2000 shantytown. By locating the clinic directly within the slum, they ve made it possible for poor patients who have no vehicle or money for a taxi to simply walk in at a moment s notice. All medical services, such as vaccinations, general consultations and prenatal care, are provided at a token fee for those who can afford it, or free for those who cannot. Each day, mothers who would never have considered traveling to the city for a routine health exam bring their children to Our Lady of Charity be weighed and measured to ensure proper nutrition. The small clinic includes a doctor s office, examination room and pharmacy and is staffed by one doctor, two nurses, two pharmacists and a psychologist. More often than not, the staff can be found walking about the neighborhood, visiting the sick in their homes, praying for the bedridden and raising health awareness. Many local families lack even the most basic knowledge about disease prevention and healthy living, and they do not seek medical help until a problem becomes an emergency. For this reason, the clinic conducts several outreach campaigns throughout the year. These include vaccinations, hygiene, deworming, oral health, pregnancy care, flat-foot screening, proper food handling and others. This faith-based project draws its inspiration from the neighborly love commanded by Christ. The health workers seek the wellness of the whole person physically and also spiritually. They recognize that the needs of the people are multi-dimensional. Domestic violence and dysfunctional family relationships cannot be ignored anymore than an infectious disease. The clinic psychologist helps patients work through heartbreaking personal struggles, overcome despair and embrace their dignity as human beings created in God s image. This is an evangelistic effort, bringing Christ s Church to a desolate land and welcoming the poor into the arms of a loving God. With your support through Cross Catholic Outreach, this life-affirming, life-transforming ministry can continue. 3
Help Now! The desperately poor children and families of Minas 2000 have put their trust in Our Lady of Charity Medical Clinic to meet their health care needs. The clinic is their lifeline, their one hope for wellness and recovery, but it cannot operate without help from compassionate Catholic benefactors like you! Your gift to Cross Catholic Outreach is crucially needed to help cover health care costs. Without that support, clinic services would be at risk of substantial reduction or discontinuation as the financial burden fell to patients who cannot possibly afford it. We must not allow these families to be victimized by easily treatable illnesses. We must not allow their children to be deprived of vaccines, their sick to be abandoned to chronic suffering, or their pregnant women to be turned away from prenatal care. Each and every patient is a neighbor in need a neighbor Christ tells us to love as we love ourselves. Won t you show that love today to our destitute brothers and sisters in Peru by supporting Our Lady of Charity Medical Clinic? Our Promise to You! Proceeds from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures for this project incurred during the current calendar year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry. 4 [tm1309] 2700 N. Military Trail, Suite 240 PO Box 273908 Boca Raton, Florida 33427-3908 1-800-914-2420 2013 Cross Catholic Outreach. Cost effectively written, designed and printed in-house.