Mobile Medical Clinic I
In October of '07 the Mobil Medical Clinic left our church en-route to a destination where Christian Alliance was told it was needed. The location was to be South Texas. The United Methodist Border Ministry chose the site to be in Riviera, Texas at the local United Methodist church.
Excitement spread like a range fire in that area about the incoming clinic. The town has no newspaper, no radio station, or even a community building. As in small towns and remote areas the 'news' is surprisingly fast by word-of-mouth. The first opening of the clinic was scheduled on Jan 11 to coincide with the food pantry day. The word went out of the clinic opening and 17 people showed up to use the services of a 'Wesley Nurse' from Kingsville. She performed testing for Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar. The clinic opened for 2 hours that day.
The first patient, a man with Diabetes, was anxious to get tested. He was happy with what he saw and quickly went back home to get his wife to be tested. The patients were a diverse mix of elderly, low income, white, and Hispanic citizenry from nearby. There are plans to recruit the services of a local, semi-retired doctor, an RN that is a member of the church and other medical assistance. A hearing-aide company will do free hearing tests.
The people there want the clinic to last and also be usable during the hot South Texas summers. The local telephone company has donated $10,000 to build a roof over the clinic and another donor built a raised concrete slab to keep the clinic 'high and dry'. It has become a community project as everyone recognizes this blessing to their lives in the form of a converted metal box sent to them by Christian people they do not know.
The Methodist Men and congregation of AUMC have every right to be proud of what we did with the love of Christ in our hearts and hands. A celebration of gratitude in the form of a pancake breakfast was held by the UMMen on Saturday January 19 where all participants of the planning and work on the clinic were invited and thanked for their effort. Those of you that were not there, please know that the UMMen and a small town in South Texas are grateful.
The slide show below shows a progression of the work on this project.
Move your cursor over the picture to pause the show...
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