Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Ashok Patel treats little Jose Miguel in El Savador.

COLIMA, El Salvador – Jose Miguel was fighting for his life. At only 12 days old, his mother knew that he could not hold on for long.

She could never afford a hospital, so when she heard about a free medical clinic held by Operation Blessing in her community, she rushed Jose to the clinic where hundreds of others had also come to receive medical care.

The best kind of care, in fact. A team of seven specialists and doctors from the world-renowned Mayo Clinic had joined Operation Blessing for the one-day medical mission.

Dr. Ashok Patel, who specializes in pulmonary and critical care medicine with Mayo Clinic, examined little Jose and diagnosed him with severe dehydration—just in time.

“If the baby had come only an hour later, it would have likely been too late,” Dr. Patel said.

For little Jose, it was another chance for life. The newborn was one of more than 500 patients that day who received free treatment at the clinic—a rewarding finish for the Mayo medical team who spent most of the week providing training to medical professionals.

Dr. John Wilson from Mayo Clinic receives a Diploma of Special Recognition from El Salvador’s government recognizing Mayo’s outstanding contributions in health services to the nation.

“For the last two years, we have been working with Operation Blessing to develop a health care program on multiple levels here in El Salvador,” said Dr. John Wilson, who specializes in infectious diseases with Mayo Clinic.

“The first level is expanding the health education and health training that currently goes on in El Salvador,” he said. “[The second is to] expand the access to health care in communities of El Salvador that may not have physicians or may not have medicines so they can develop their own health care ability.”

And their hard work is making an impact. During their visit, Mayo Clinic was presented with the Diploma of Special Recognition by the government of El Salvador for outstanding contributions in health services to the country.

“I’m deeply honored and humbled to receive this award on behalf of Mayo Clinic,” Dr. Wilson said. “I would also like to thank our friends at Operation Blessing for the hard work and dedication that they have placed into this program to make it a success.”

Since beginning the pilot project in El Salvador, Mayo Clinic has since expanded their partnership with Operation Blessing to also include Honduras and most recently, Haiti.

HOW YOU CAN HELP
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