Something different: St. Andrew's Clinic

On the first Thursday of every month volunteers from all over the country gather at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Nogales, Ariz. and once there the church is transformed into St. Andrew’s Clinic. It is not the typical medical clinic that you would see in the states, but this clinic is filled with love and true compassion.


Retired doctors, nurses, interpreters, spouses, and friends/co-workers of (former) volunteers take time out of their schedules to make the lives of children better. According to the clinic website, in 2007:

• 2,422 Clinic visits by volunteer doctors
• 87 Prostheses (legs, arms, eyes)
• 209 Office visits (USA and Mexico)
• 120 Pairs of Orthotic footwear
• l,851 Medication prescriptions filled
• 50 Hearing aids
• 348 Medical diagnostic tests
• 89 Pairs of eyeglasses
• 36 Orthopedic surgeries
• 4 Eye surgeries
• 39 Cleft Palate surgeries

While waiting for the child’s name to be called snacks (coffee, fresh fruit, nachos) are made available to the patients and their parents. In the back of the main waiting room, an arts and crafts table has been set up for the children. Children have the option of playing homemade play dough, to water colors, to working with puzzles, board games and building blocks. Linda Pantoja, 68, a volunteer from Green Valley, Ariz. told me that the children enjoy playing play dough and especially with the water colors.

According to the website “St. Andrew's Children's Clinic is a 501(c)(3) nondenominational, nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide free medical treatment for disabled children of impoverished parents from Mexico, using medical and lay volunteers from both sides of the border”.

The clinic relies on donations to continue their work. Throughout the years, they have made connections with various hospitals (Shrine & Shriners Hospitals and Spokane Hospital) to provide surgeries for the patients.

Watch the following video's to get an idea of what St. Andrew's Clinic has to offer:

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The trip down to St. Andrew's Children's Clinic was amazing. Words can not describe how powerful this trip was.