World News
Arizona doctor's healing hands extend to Mexican children
Published:
NOGALES, Ariz. (CNS) -- Thirty-four years ago, when he was 15, Francisco Valencia worked as an interpreter at a budding clinic for the disabled kids of impoverished Mexicans in Nogales, his hometown. Today he's "Dr. V," chief of staff of the orthopedics department at St. Andrew's Children's Clinic in Nogales, taking time from his Tucson practice to volunteer his skills in treating the many youngsters who visit the clinic with life-altering ailments. On the first Thursday of every month, some 250 Mexican children, many using wheelchairs or walkers, make their way across the U.S.-Mexican border into Arizona for the free treatment provided by medical and lay volunteers from both countries. In the beginning there were only three patients. In 1973, Dr. Mark Frankel founded the clinic when a friend asked him to take time from his Tucson practice to attend to the needs of three patients in Nogales, Mexico. It was apparent that others there required treatment, Frankel said in an interview at the clinic, where he still helps out. Those needs extended beyond physical deformities to all types of health issues, including sight, hearing and speech problems, and nutritional deficiencies, he said.
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