By Juan Jose Calvo - Cuban Association of the Order of Malta

MIAMI | More than 1,300 patients seen and over $100,000 in medicines and equipment delivered to a poor area in the Dominican Republic: That was the tally of the semi-annual medical mission sponsored by the Cuban Association of the Order of Malta.

Under the leadership of José Joaquín Centurión and Jorge Echenique, both South Florida physicians and members of the Order, a team of 70 physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and support volunteers traveled from Miami to Santiago’s Hospital Manuel J. Centurion at ILAC Center in mid-March.

The team of 20 doctors included specialists in internal medicine, family practice, cardiology, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, urology, pediatrics, radiology, anesthesiology and surgery.

During their five days in the area, the team saw 1,314 patients, many of whom were seen by multiple doctors. The surgery team performed 48 surgical procedures, while the radiology team performed 42 cardiac echocardiograms and 86 ultrasounds. Over 860 prescriptions were filled by the pharmacy.

Through the generous support of American Airlines, the mission also delivered much needed medications and surgical equipment worth over $100,000.

The Order of Malta — formally known as the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta — was founded in Jerusalem around 1050. It is a sovereign subject of international law and a Catholic lay religious order. Its mission is to witness the faith and serve the poor and the sick.

The Order of Malta has its own institutions in the five continents for a total of 13,500 members and 80,000 volunteers, supported by more than 25,000 doctors, nurses and auxiliary nurses. The Order runs hospitals, medical and social centers, nursing homes for the elderly and the disabled, centers for terminally ill patients, and volunteers’ corps in more than 120 countries.

The Cuban Association was established in 1952. It was reorganized in Miami in 1990, where new activities were established for the poor and the elderly in cooperation with the local Catholic Church. Presently it has 113 Knights, Dames and Chaplains, including three living in Cuba.

Since 1996, members of the Cuban Association have worked closely with the Catholic Church in Cuba. They currently fund 58 elderly support centers, living facilities for retired priests, and hospitals and other institutions, including one which serves children with Down’s syndrome.

In Miami, volunteer doctors have served the San Juan Bosco parish clinic — Our Lady of Philermo — for many years, and since 2008 the Casita de Malta food bank for the poor.

For more information about the order visit www.orderofmalta.int. For more information about the work of the Cuban Association, visit www.ordendemaltacuba.org.