A large delivery truck pulled up in front of Chapala’s Municipal Health Clinic Thursday, December 21, to drop off a load of donated medical equipment shipped in from the United States.
Clinic staff lent a hand in unloading the contents, made up of ten hospital beds with hydraulic lifts, ten matching vinyl-covered mattresses, two medical examination tables, two gurneys, 50 sets of crutches and 50 aluminum folding walkers.
The inventory was part of a container filled with top-grade surplus hospital gear acquired from hospitals in the Chicago metro area earmarked for three Jalisco medical facilities tagged as “small clinics with big needs.” The selected recipients are Cruz Verde Tlaquepaque, Cruz Roja Teocaltiche and Clinica Municipal Chapala,
The delivery to Chapala culminated a cross-border initiative started in March 2016 involving Chicago’s Club Rotary One and Rotary Club Northwest, and Rotary Internacional Guadalajara, in cooperation with the NGO Project C.U.R.E. The Mexican Consulate General in Chicago was also instrumental in smoothing over importation issues.
The municipal clinic serves approximately 150,000 patients in the Chapala area, including local government employees and their families and beneficiaries covered under the Seguro Popular health insurance program.