U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza Visits "Hospital de la Familia" in Ciudad Juarez

U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza visited with patients and staff at FEMAP's "Hospital de la Familia" in Ciudad Juarez during a recent trip to the border area on May 8-10. Ambassador Garza toured the 100-bed, 82-doctor facility founded by the Juarez-based, non-profit organization FEMAP, or Mexican Federation of Health and Community Development, stopping to speak with physicians and patients in the neonatal, maternity, and pediatric wards along the way. The self-sufficient hospital is well known in the community for providing high quality, affordable health care to residents along a part of the U.S.-Mexico border that suffers from a critical shortage of medical facilities. In 2002 the hospital provided medical treatment to approximately one fifth of the population of Ciudad Juarez, in addition to 13,083 residents of nearby El Paso, Texas.

Dr. Enrique Suarez, FEMAP's Executive Director who accompanied the Ambassador during a tour of the hospital's neonatal, maternity, and pediatric wards, pointed out that, "We are always fighting the misconception that if you serve the poor you cannot survive as an institution. You have to work ten times harder than at other hospitals to make it work. But it's a matter of being efficient, while remaining a humanist." Started in 1976 with only 4 beds and 16 employees, the hospital now includes an intensive care unit, operating rooms, a dental clinic, seven birthing rooms, as well as emergency medical services.

During his visit, Ambassador Garza also heard presentations by FEMAP directors and individual participants in the organization's microenterprise loan program. FEMAP's projects throughout Mexico support prevention of drug abuse and AIDS, environmental health and sanitation programs, and economic development through microenterprise creation and community banking. Garza lauded FEMAP's integral approach to community development, saying, "It is programs like FEMAP which are empowering local inhabitants to break the cycle of poverty."

First Lady Laura Bush serves on the Honorary Advisory Board of El Paso's The FEMAP Foundation, a sister organization to FEMAP begun in 1992 to provide links between the two cities and countries in order to address economic needs and public health concerns.