Press Release
Elmhurst couple builds clinic in Bolivia with EMHC donations
For Immediate Release, February 15, 2007
Contact
Cassandra Sura, (630) 993-5739
ELMHURST – Upon retiring, two life-long Elmhurst residents spent their life savings to build a clinic in Bolivia where they plan to offer free medical care to the poverty-stricken families in their home village. Cecilia Canelas is a retired operating room nurse who worked at Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare (EMHC) for most of her career. Her husband, Victor Canelas, M.D., is a retired neurosurgeon who was a member of the Elmhurst Memorial Hospital Medical Staff during the 1970s. After nearly a decade of working to build the clinic, the couple returned to Elmhurst to seek equipment donations.
EMHC President/CEO Leo Fronza welcomed the idea of donating the Hospital’s old, but still useable equipment to the Bolivian clinic. “In the past we’ve donated equipment to overseas facilities, including a CAT scanner for a university hospital in Eastern Europe with the help of Endel Sepp, M.D., of Elmhurst who was on-staff at the Hospital for many years,” Fronza said. “The needs of other countries are great and they are very appreciative of donations.”
EMHC Volunteer Services Director Lora Vega was asked to help coordinate the Bolivian clinic donations from the Hospital. Having never met the Canelas’ before, Vega began working with them to determine what the clinic needed.
“As employees were replacing equipment in their departments, they would evaluate the old equipment to see if it was something that could be used in another country,” Vega said. “It was really a group effort. When the Elmhurst Memorial Hospital Guild funded new lead aprons for the Radiology department, the old ones were donated. The Guild’s Pink Elephant resale shop in downtown Elmhurst donated shoes. The gift shop at the Hospital donated some of its inventory items. It was amazing how everything began falling into place.”
Vega and the Canelas’ were recently able to ship the equipment that EMHC was storing with the help of the Joliet Archdiocese. Over the holidays, Vega went to Bolivia to see the clinic and meet the village children who would someday benefit from the medical care that it would house. Although the equipment arrived the same day she did, it was not released from customs during her stay.
“I was amazed to see what one couple’s vision had produced and all the work that had been done,” Vega said. “They did a beautiful job building the clinic, but all they have right now are bricks and mortar. They have an admissions area, a surgical suite and other designated spaces in the building, but they are all empty. When they said they needed everything, they were right.”
The couple currently makes house-calls when possible and does what they can to help people in the village who are ill, but they hope to have physicians and medical students join them when the clinic is finished. “They have running water and electricity, but their work is still very basic because they don’t have any supplies,” Vega said.
The Canelas’ will continue to take steps in completing the clinic, and EMHC will continue to collect equipment to help. “They have a long way to go, and there’s no telling when it will be finished. Getting it built was a huge accomplishment, but getting the equipment through customs and getting supplies is another major challenge,” Vega said. “It’s amazing to see how the efforts of our own employees have helped materialize this couple’s vision of providing medical care to their village.”
EMHC contributions to clinic in Bolivia
- Exam tables
- Medication cart
- X-ray viewing cabinet
- Stretcher
- Laboratory incubators
- Desks
- Reference medical books
- Lead aprons
- Heating/cooling machine
- Surgical instruments and sutures
- CPR educational supplies
- Storage cabinets
- Over-bed table
- Small refrigerator
- X-ray supplies
- X-ray cassette holder
- Datascope Accutec
- Patient gowns and scrubs
Donations from other EMHC-related sources
- Sample medications
- Portable X-ray machine
- Shoes for children
- Baby clothing
- Beanie Babies
- Band-aid dispensers
Founded in 1926, Elmhurst Memorial Hospital today is Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare, a comprehensive health system with multiple locations and services designed to enhance the health of the communities and customers we serve. With 427 licensed beds, Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare and its staff of more than 3,500 employees and 550 physicians are committed to excellence in medical and surgical care, behavioral health, cardiology, emergency care, maternity, neurosurgery, oncology, orthopedics and pediatrics. For more information about Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare, please call our physician referral line at (630) 782-7878, or visit our online physician referral service.