Dr. Steve Adamson of Mayo Clinic gently cradles Baudilio as he examines him, having traveled 50 miles across El Salvador to make the house call.

LA PALMA, El Salvador – It’s one of the worst feelings a mother can have.

Isabel knew that her baby was suffering but there was nothing she could do to help him.

Little Baudilio, her youngest of ten children, had been admitted to health clinics before with repeated bouts of pneumonia as well as a heart murmur and blood infection.

Yet nothing seemed to get at the root of 10-month-old Baudilio’s health problems.

Then one day Isabel was listening to the radio and heard an interview with an American physician who was visiting her country. Her husband, Pedro, called the phone number for Operation Blessing that had been announced on the radio.

Dr. Steve Adamson, along with a team of doctors from world-renowned Mayo Clinic, was spending the week training local medical professionals as well as conducting rural health clinics.

Little Baudilio receives follow-up treatment at Benjamin Bloom National Children’s Hospital in El Salvador.

After hearing about little Baudilio’s case, Dr. Adamson insisted on making a personal house call.

He traveled 50 miles to the small town of La Palma, where Pedro met him and showed him the way up the rocky road to the top of the mountain where little Baudilio waited.

After examining the baby, Dr. Adamson diagnosed him with hydrocephalus—a condition that would require special treatment.

Operation Blessing contacted the director of the Benjamin Bloom National Children’s Hospital in El Salvador and worked it out for Baudilio to receive the ongoing specialized care he needed—free of charge.

“I am grateful to God, to Dr. Adamson and to Operation Blessing for providing assistance to our son,” Pedro said tearfully.

For the last two years, Operation Blessing and Mayo Clinic have been working in El Salvador to develop a health care program that will expand health education and training for medical professionals as well as increase access to health care in rural communities.

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

HOW YOU CAN HELP
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