|
Connections. . .
January 23, 2000
Third Sunday of the Year
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea. "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." They abandoned their nets and followed him.
-Mark 1:14-20
The big blue van of hope and healing
The Appalachian hollows of West Virginia is a region of cruel contrasts: Amid a beautiful natural setting of oak and dogwood is unimaginable poverty. In the midst of a mining area, during one of the greatest economic booms in this nation's history, many of the dilapidated frame houses and rusted trailers still have no running water or phone service. It's 20 miles to the nearest supermarket; the nearest doctor is an eternity away.
Through these hills, a long blue van rocks gently along the isolated roads. Dr. Isabel Pino and her students from the Marshall University School of Medicine stop at schools and sites in four Appalachian counties, providing medical care to these struggling families. The cramped van offers most of the services found at a conventional clinic, even chemotherapy for young cancer patients.
The van is one of 18 provided by the Children's Health Fund, a project begun in 1987 by singer-songwriter Paul Simon to bring pediatricians to poor and uninsured children in the United States. Dr. Pino, who has been roaming the West Virginia hills for eight years, is one of the stars of the project-- a doctor who is committed to a high quality of care and a compassionate advocate for the children she cares for.
Putting the mobile unit on the road is only half the battle. The other half is getting the more reticent poor to use it. It took about a year and a half for some people to come-- they are afraid to learn that something might be wrong. As Dr. Pino explains, "People out here are used to social programs coming and going, and they are still left behind. It isn't difficult to understand why they are distrustful."
Dr. Pino is, herself, the daughter of a doctor and a lab technician. Her family was forced to flee from their home in Cuba in 1961 and build a new life in the United States. She understands what these families are going through. With compassion, grace and a sense of humor, the 47-year-old pediatrician brings hope and healing to the young patients who are her passion.
"In what profession can you inflict pain or tickle someone and get paid for it--and in the end they say thank you? You have to be a pediatrician, right?"
[People Weekly, November 29, 1999.
CONNECTION: Christ entrusts to each one of us-- fisherman, doctor, cook, teacher, student, pastor, laborer, child, senior-- the work of discipleship: to proclaim, in our own time and place, the compassion, justice and forgiveness of the gospel. Christ came to show us how it is possible to live
|
|
