Comunidad Builds a New Dental Clinic for the Casa Hogar Orphanage in Mexico
The fall of 2009 saw the completion of a new dental clinic for the orphans of Casa Hogar, an orphanage located in Canyon Buena Vista, 15 kilometers south of Ensenada. The clinic is the culmination of three years of planning and construction, led by Dr. Larry Tabor, Comunidad's head of Dental Services and Bill Rush, Comunidad's Director of Infrastructure. The clinic will not only help serve the 74 children that live at the orphanage but also the more than 10,000 local residents of the community comprised mostly of migrant workers from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala.
The three-chair dental clinic includes a full lab, x-ray room, waiting area and restroom. The construction process took more than 20 trips with various construction talent working four-day w
eekends to accomplish the task. Crews flew in small planes from the Bay Area to Ensenada to transform a piece of dirt into a 3,000 sq. ft. school and dental clinic. Locals also helped install security bars, construct retaining walls and move the mountains of dirt needed for proper drainage and access.
Over the years Comunidad, in association with Los Medicos Voladores (The Flying Doctors), has helped Casa Hogar grow from a dirt-floored structure with random bunk beds stacked to the ceiling to today's collection of buildings, which include a music room, computer room, and now the school and clinic. Larry, in association with Soledad, Casa Hogar's director, has made it his mission to build a proper dental clinic for the orphanage c
hildren and the town in general. He had served this village for years and spent many weekends as a volunteer dentist working out of a small church in less than ideal conditions. With the financial support from Comunidad Para Baja California, Flying Doctors, Rotary Clubs of North San Jose, Auburn, Grass Valley, and Pasadena, along with many personal donors, his idea came to fruition. "All that is left is to stock the shelves and open the door to the community" says Dr. Tabor.
The long-term plan is to have a Mexican dentist work at the clinic full-time and have it available for volunteer groups to run dental clinics for the underserved people living in the area.