Sisters who work with Columbans in Mexico find a calling to provide medical help to special-needs children.
By Sr. Janet Gildea, SC

"What do we know about the care of children with special needs? And aren’t all the children in Anapra struggling rather than special?”

These were some of the questions we Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati asked ourselves when we realized the lack of services for handicapped children and their families in the colonia of Anapra west of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

The temptation was to escape from the unmet need that was presenting itself to us—just as we initially resisted the Holy Spirit pulling us across the border to Mexico before we eventually started a clinic in Anapra for prenatal care and alternative therapies.

The words of our own foundress, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, gave us courage:

“We must be so careful to meet our grace. If mine depended on going to a place to which I had the most dreadful aversion, in that place there is a store of grace waiting for me.”

No Where Else To Turn
While we didn’t exactly admit to a “most dreadful aversion,” we weren’t quite convinced that the store of grace would be enough. The special children just started arriving. Thirteen-year-old Oscar, who had muscular dystrophy, and Juan Diegito, an infant with Down’s syndrome, were the first.

Oscar’s mother had heard about our alternative therapies clinic, and since no other physical therapy was available, she decided to learn about what we offered. Juan Diegito’s mother, Gloria, received prenatal care with us. Her experiences helped us understand the struggles of Anapra’s parents and the unmet needs of the children.

In the spring of 2003, we discovered a connection to help us get started. The St. Joseph Home for profoundly handicapped children in Sharonville, Ohio, is a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. A discussion with the administrator of the home led to a collaborative pilot project as an outreach of La Clinica Guadalupana, our clinic in El Paso, Texas. We named the project Santo Niño (Holy Child) to honor Jesus and the holy children who would grace our clinic.

Thanks to the Sisters of Charity Ministry Foundation and other generous benefactors, we created a large therapy space where children, parents and therapists work together. Columban Father Bill Morton supervised the construction of the room that connected the clinic to his house, effectively putting him out of his own home.

A crew of local men and many volunteers used straw-bale construction techniques and a lot of ingenuity to improve the building’s climate control. We even have a Jacuzzi to provide water therapy for our patients.

Laurete Francescato (left) and Peggy Denewith comforted a special-needs child at Santo Niño. The children’s treatment includes physical therapy and massage.

We offer our services on alternate Saturdays, for now, seeing about 12 children each day. Our treatment room accommodates four children at one time: two on floor mats and two on exam tables.

The team of Sisters includes a massage therapist, a pastoral minister, a registered nurse and a family physician. Volunteer massage therapists, special education teachers, health care professionals and other aides attend to the children and their parents (and siblings) who regularly accompany them.

We instruct the parents in some simple therapies they can continue with the children between sessions. On Wednesdays, we visit the families to assess the needs and capabilities of the children in their homes.

What we have learned is that our special children all respond to loving kindness, gentle touch and various therapies to increase their sensory experience. Equally important, their parents have learned that while there may be no “cure” for their children, there is always “care.”

There is always the possibility to provide new sensory experiences to expand the children’s horizons. And at Santo Niño, there is welcome, support and hope.

Meeting Jesus
After a day at the clinic in Anapra, we know we have touched the suffering Jesus Christ. Whether in the contorted body of a child or in the tears of a single mother who must leave her child in the care of her other children while she works in a factory, we have met Jesus who promised we would find Him in “the least of these sisters and brothers.”

We also have seen miracles. Bedsores that should never heal are closed. A child who only screamed and moaned now smiles and giggles. The Christ of the Resurrection surprises us too. The “store of grace waiting” is more than enough.

Sr. Janet Gildea is a family physician and a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati who helps run medical clinics along the Texas-Mexico border.