BACK TO PARAISO – The Project Nears Completion
by Reverend Mark Specht 7W7

It is hard to believe that after eleven years the hospital construction we began in Paraiso, Dominica Republic, is finished!  How did it happen?  Well thanks to the leadership and involvement of the South Kansas City Rotary and concerned members of the First Presbyterian Church of Wooster, Ohio, we together hired and financed a very capable construction firm from Barahona, D.R.  

Without this God-sent help the project was needed for another ten years at our minimal support level.  The actual addition to the original small five-room clinic is a three-story structure over 22,000 square feet which has the potential for a 43-patient occupancy, a maternity ward, pharmacy, seven doctor’s offices, emergency room, X-ray facilities, overnight capabilities, 24/7 operation, and a separate energy facility.

This year a group of fourteen will be going down from May 21-28.  The group will include six students, seven alumni and the daughter of Williamson alumnus and Board Vice Chair Bill Bonenberger, Chelsea.

We are presently raising the final funds for the building project, which includes the back money paid to the contractor to complete the structure, and $15,000 for the project of renovating the original structure, after it survived the renovation all around it.  We are excited about seeing the completed project, walking the halls of an area that was last year just block walls and dirt floors.  Williamson has much to be proud of in the dedication of all those who have supported the program. If anyone would like to help specifically for this last construction cost, please contact Mark Specht 7W7; it will be greatly appreciated.

But, thanks to the leadership from the Kansas City Rotary and the church group from Ohio, we are beginning the next and most challenging phase and that is becoming a fully self-supporting and operational hospital.   Plans are underway now to get the medical equipment and needed supplies to become a government-rated ‘Tier II’ status hospital. There is also the challenge to find personnel to administrate and structure this non-profit organization.  What a project this has become!  

We are truly excited about the future of this hospital and its mission to fulfill its name ‘Amor al Projimo’ (Love thy Neighbor).