Editor’s Note: You might be familiar with AMOR’s Mendota Project, designed to improve the health status of the west Fresno County community of Mendota, California. On the way to bringing this project to fruition, we at AMOR have encountered people whose circumstances illustrate why Dignity, Empowerment, and Opportunity are so central to what we do. These are their stories.
A ready smile, big dreams, wants the opportunity to play ball… but could not get a simple X-ray.
Christopher is a handsome 11-year-old with a ready smile and big dreams. In Mendota his whole life, he enjoys fifth grade and wants to be a basketball player when he grows up. But when we met him, his arm was in a sling. “I was going for the soccer ball at school,” he said, “Someone pushed me, and I fell and landed on my shoulder.” Christopher couldn’t move or turn his head without pain.
The school office sent him to a clinic, but there wasn’t much anyone could do. Nobody had an X-ray machine. It took two days of pain for Christopher to be diagnosed. After a long trip to a Fresno hospital, the X-ray he finally got revealed a fractured collarbone.
But this was nothing new for Christopher. He’s dealt with hardship his entire life.
His mother died shortly after giving birth to his younger brother. His father is gone a lot, working “everywhere” in construction. He shares a three-room Mendota house, with his grandparents in one room, his father in another, while he shares a bedroom with his younger brother and two older sisters. The sisters get the closet, while Christopher keeps his own clothes in a basket. Traveling far for a simple X-ray was normal for him.
Chris just wants the opportunity to take on the world. “I want to be the famous basketball player from Mendota,” he says.
Did you know… the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) has designated Mendota as a “shortage area” for Primary Care, Mental Health and Dental Health?
Goals of AMOR’s Mendota Project:
- To serve families — both insured and not — who have limited access to health and social services in west Fresno County, improving the health status of the Mendota community.
- To build an alliance of medical, social service and youth development providers that fill gaps in health services, education, and social and youth services.
- To transform health outcomes for farmworkers and their families who are the hidden backbone of one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions.
Learn more about AMOR’s Mendota Project