Posted on Thu, Mar. 15, 2007
PERU
Miami medical team gives thousands free care
Thirty-three Miami medical personnel are giving free medical care to the
poorest of the poor in a Lima shantytown.
BY TYLER BRIDGES
tbridges@MiamiHerald.com
LIMA --
Enriqueta Hernández smiled as Orlando Silva, a visiting University of
Miami doctor, checked her blood pressure, pricked her with a needle and
examined her splotchy legs.
Hernández had reason to smile. She and her family normally can't afford
a doctor.
But that's why Silva and 32 other volunteers from Miami spent several
days this week in Lima: to give free care -- and $1 million worth of
medicine -- to the poorest of poor.
It may have been the most rewarding week of the year for the visitors.
But it had special meaning to Orlando García, a doctor from Palmetto
General Hospital in Hialeah, thanks to Hernández and others like her.
Hernández was one of the 100 Cubans treated Sunday from families that
fled Cuba during the 1980 Mariel crisis and ended up resettling here, in
a dusty shantytown known as Villa El Salvador.
García, too, left Cuba during Mariel, but headed toward a life with more
opportunities.
He said he wouldn't have become a doctor in Miami if Mariel refugees --
including those in Peru -- hadn't sought asylum in the Peruvian Embassy
in Havana and forced Fidel Castro to let them leave.
''Thanks to you, I'm a doctor,'' García told Hernández. She smiled.
Hernández, a 51-year-old mother of five, was among 3,000 people --
mostly Peruvians -- whom the medical mission treated this week. They
suffered from parasites, scabies and other illnesses that the Miami
doctors rarely see.
''I've only seen parasites once or twice in America,'' said Dr. Luis
Raez, a native Peruvian who also works at the University of Miami.
``Today, I saw 35 patients, and three had parasites.''
ON THE MISSION
Each person on the trip had to pay $1,000 to cover his or her airfare
and other costs. Some came under the auspices of Catholic Missions
Emmaus, a group founded by Silva.
A cancer specialist born in Cuba, Silva has organized 14 missions to
Guatemala. This was the second one within the past year to Peru.
''You get the benefit of seeing these people and hugging them,'' he
said. ``So you as a human being not only touch them, but they touch you.
You grow and become a better person.''
Some Peruvian-Americans on the mission, such as Raez, belong to a
Lima-based group, Solidaridad en Marcha, that gave local help.
Angel Origgi, the group's executive director, said that in the
shantytown where the Miamians worked, called San Juan de Miraflores,
about one-third of the 300,000 residents don't have running water.
Another Peruvian native on the trip was Dr. Giovanna Baldárrago, who in
Miami treats infectious diseases. On the trip, she served as the
gynecologist.
''In Miami, I do whatever is in my area,'' Baldárrago said. ``Here, I do
everything. This kind of work is very rewarding. It's the reason you go
into medicine. In the United States, you have too many rules and
problems with insurance.''
DONORS OF SUPPLIES
A good amount of the medicine dispensed came from Heart to Heart
International, a Kansas-based group that has also worked with other
Miami-based missions, such as Cristo Salva, New Hope Ministries
International and Nicaraguan Medical Missions.
Wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and diapers donated by the group this
week came from St. Brendan Catholic Church of Westchester, which had
intended to send the goods to Cuba but could not. The Bush
administration has not renewed the Archdiocese of Miami's license to do so.
''If the goods can't be used in Cuba, then let them be used elsewhere
where there is need,'' said Father Fernando Heria, St. Brendan's pastor.
http://www.miamiherald.com/579/story/42031.html
PERU
Miami medical team gives thousands free care
Thirty-three Miami medical personnel are giving free medical care to the
poorest of the poor in a Lima shantytown.
BY TYLER BRIDGES
tbridges@MiamiHerald.com
LIMA --
Enriqueta Hernández smiled as Orlando Silva, a visiting University of
Miami doctor, checked her blood pressure, pricked her with a needle and
examined her splotchy legs.
Hernández had reason to smile. She and her family normally can't afford
a doctor.
But that's why Silva and 32 other volunteers from Miami spent several
days this week in Lima: to give free care -- and $1 million worth of
medicine -- to the poorest of poor.
It may have been the most rewarding week of the year for the visitors.
But it had special meaning to Orlando García, a doctor from Palmetto
General Hospital in Hialeah, thanks to Hernández and others like her.
Hernández was one of the 100 Cubans treated Sunday from families that
fled Cuba during the 1980 Mariel crisis and ended up resettling here, in
a dusty shantytown known as Villa El Salvador.
García, too, left Cuba during Mariel, but headed toward a life with more
opportunities.
He said he wouldn't have become a doctor in Miami if Mariel refugees --
including those in Peru -- hadn't sought asylum in the Peruvian Embassy
in Havana and forced Fidel Castro to let them leave.
''Thanks to you, I'm a doctor,'' García told Hernández. She smiled.
Hernández, a 51-year-old mother of five, was among 3,000 people --
mostly Peruvians -- whom the medical mission treated this week. They
suffered from parasites, scabies and other illnesses that the Miami
doctors rarely see.
''I've only seen parasites once or twice in America,'' said Dr. Luis
Raez, a native Peruvian who also works at the University of Miami.
``Today, I saw 35 patients, and three had parasites.''
ON THE MISSION
Each person on the trip had to pay $1,000 to cover his or her airfare
and other costs. Some came under the auspices of Catholic Missions
Emmaus, a group founded by Silva.
A cancer specialist born in Cuba, Silva has organized 14 missions to
Guatemala. This was the second one within the past year to Peru.
''You get the benefit of seeing these people and hugging them,'' he
said. ``So you as a human being not only touch them, but they touch you.
You grow and become a better person.''
Some Peruvian-Americans on the mission, such as Raez, belong to a
Lima-based group, Solidaridad en Marcha, that gave local help.
Angel Origgi, the group's executive director, said that in the
shantytown where the Miamians worked, called San Juan de Miraflores,
about one-third of the 300,000 residents don't have running water.
Another Peruvian native on the trip was Dr. Giovanna Baldárrago, who in
Miami treats infectious diseases. On the trip, she served as the
gynecologist.
''In Miami, I do whatever is in my area,'' Baldárrago said. ``Here, I do
everything. This kind of work is very rewarding. It's the reason you go
into medicine. In the United States, you have too many rules and
problems with insurance.''
DONORS OF SUPPLIES
A good amount of the medicine dispensed came from Heart to Heart
International, a Kansas-based group that has also worked with other
Miami-based missions, such as Cristo Salva, New Hope Ministries
International and Nicaraguan Medical Missions.
Wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and diapers donated by the group this
week came from St. Brendan Catholic Church of Westchester, which had
intended to send the goods to Cuba but could not. The Bush
administration has not renewed the Archdiocese of Miami's license to do so.
''If the goods can't be used in Cuba, then let them be used elsewhere
where there is need,'' said Father Fernando Heria, St. Brendan's pastor.
http://www.miamiherald.com/579/story/42031.html
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