Miguel Villaseñor Calvillo, a top-notch dentist with a heart of gold, has teamed up with the non-profit Asociación de Niños de San Antonio to resume services for patients of limited means.
Villaseñor, a specialist in oral health, was recruited in December 2013 to launch a program geared for patients with severe dental problems at Ajijic’s Centro de Salud, a public health care facility operated by Jalisco’s Ministry of Health (SSJ). He volunteered his services on weekends to correct complicated cases, especially those of adolescents and seniors unable to afford private care.
The SSJ ditched the project at the first of this year, at the same time Villaseñor’s contract with the heath agency ended, forcing him to abandon unfinished treatments. But he is now continuing his humanitarian mission at the sparely equipped clinic he set up at the Niños de San Antonio headquarters at Calle Jesús García 4.
Starting two weeks ago, the dentist has been driving out from his home in Guadalajara every Sunday to see new patients, working straight through from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. to squeeze in as many appointments as possible.
Patients are asked to pay a recuperation fee of 90 pesos per visit to help cover the center’s electrical bills and other operating expenses. Villaseñor provides necessary medical materials at no cost.
He is also following up care for a middle-aged woman with Down’s Syndrome who has lost all of her teeth and a deaf-mute boy with serious dental difficulties, both carried over from the defunct Ajijic project. All other patients from there are being channeled either to DIF Chapala or a private dental clinic. This has been facilitated by the Sunrise Rotary Club, which helped fund Villaseñor’s work at the Centro de Salud.
According to Niños de San Antonio president Veronica Herrera, donations to the association are tax deductable. For further information contact her at 33-1190-3265 (cel).