Claudia and Riley
By Samantha Carver
It was a beautiful July day in 2008 when cousins Riley Jane Lawrence, 4, and Claudia Faye Wadlington, 5, were crossing the street in Louisville to go to swimming lessons. In moments though, their young lives were cut horribly short when they were hit by a 27-year-old man who was running from Louisville police.
After the girl’s deaths, their families wanted to do something to honor their memories and help others. The Riley Jane Lawrence and Claudia Faye Wadlington Fund was created.
To honor Riley’s mother, Sarah Lawrence, who is an administrator for the Student Doctor Network Web site, SDN members raised money for the fund to help the families with expenses and other organizations in memory of the girls. The money raised was donated to several local groups and the rest is part of a permanent memorial fund at the Community Foundation of Louisville.
This three-part series of articles focuses on the work of each of those groups that has received donations thus far, and why they were chosen by the girls’ families.
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When the Riley Jane Lawrence and Claudia Faye Wadlington Fund chose to donate $3,000 to Shoulder to Shoulder Ecuador, it was a decision made from previous knowledge of the group.
“I learned about them through a former classmate at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy,” said Sarah Lawrence, Riley‘s mother. “I was interested because pharmacy students like myself were involved, and it seemed like a worthy project.”
The $3,000 donation was given from the fund through the Community Foundation of Louisville.
“That is the cost of medication for one trip to Ecuador,” Lawrence, an SDN administrator, said.
Dr. Thomas Young of Shoulder to Shoulder Ecuador said that donations like this one make it possible for the medical brigades that travel to Ecuador to treat around 1,000 patients with each trip.
Medical brigade member treating a child
“We usually have at least two medical brigades each year with about 40 team members on those,” he said. “We have doctors, medical residents, dentists and a fair number of students from any of the health colleges. The pharmacy department has been involved in each of our trips, and we take all of the medications with us. This money has allowed us to purchase those medications for one of our trips.”
The core values of Shoulder to Shoulder Ecuador include service to the poor, working in conjunction with other community leaders, providing a sustainable community impact, reporting to supporters, safety and being a light, not a judge, to the community in need.
The organization exists to serve the needs of the poor and improve their health situations. The goal is to help a community that will ultimately be responsible in assuming control of all of the projects.
While short-term medical trips are made to areas by many organizations, Shoulder to Shoulder Kentucky plans long-term relationships to open sustainable possibilities such as disease prevention and continuity of care. It allows aid to be provided in health education, economic and educational development and public health issues.
Medical team in front of Centro Medico Hombro a Hombro clinic in Ecuador
Community leaders in Santo Domingo identified the shantytown of Carlos Ruiz Burneo as a community in extreme need. With limited access to medical care and extreme poverty, the community of 20,000 was the recipient of Centro Medico Hombro a Hombro in May 2007. The health center includes a physician, nurse, receptionist, coordinator and part time dentist. The center also has outreach programs to provide immunizations and community based prevention projects.
“We operate that full-service clinic through donations,” Young said. “We raise money to fund all the staffing that takes place because it operates on about a $100,000 a year budget. That amount of money goes a long way in that community. We would not even be able to afford a doctor for that budget in the United States.”
The staff for the clinic is all from the community that is being served.
“People there really can’t afford the medications that they need,” Young said. “We also provide a number of vaccines that these people would not be able to get otherwise. It was nice to have Sarah’s support for helping us with those medications.”
Because of the long-term relationship with the community, Young said Shoulder to Shoulder Ecuador is able to do regular follow-ups with patients.
“There is a 15-year-old girl there with multiple sclerosis who is at a point that she can’t walk anymore,” he said. “We were able to take her a walker last time, and get her fitted to it. She was all smiles!”
The safety of volunteers is paramount, but is ultimately the responsibility of the volunteer. It is also their responsibility to submit trip reports to team leader. This helps keep sponsors involved in what is happening with their donations.
Volunteers are also encouraged to be a model, but not a critic, to the communities in which they serve. They are to avoid condemning lifestyles, religious affiliations and other methods of relief.
“We have trips coming up in May and August of this year,” Young said. “There is also a small physical therapy group going down in March.”
Landscape near the clinic site
Young said work in the area is very agricultural and heavy, but finding access to physical therapy is a challenge.
“It is very limited there,” he said. “We are the only health care facility in that community of 20,000. They could have access to the public health system, but it is a long distance away, and they run out of supplies quickly.”
Young said that Shoulder to Shoulder Ecuador is considering replicating their services and possibly building other clinics in other countries.
“We would like to open a clinic in India, but of course that is all dependent on funding,” Young said. “No matter how much further our money can go in these foreign countries, we still have to raise the money to begin the projects.”
Although she has not planned to at this time, Lawrence would consider a trip to Ecuador.
“If life allows, I might participate in one of their future trips,” she said. “I hope that people receive medical care and medication that improves their lives. I like the thought of children thousands of miles away being cared for in Riley and Claudia’s memory. I hope that our participation encourages others to support this project as well.”
To participate in an upcoming medical brigade, apply on the organization’s Web site at www.shouldertoshoulderky.org.
University of Kentucky students should contact Morgan McKenzie, president of the Shoulder to Shoulder Ecuador Student Association, at morgan.mckenzie@uky.edu.
The Student Doctor Network would like to thank our many members who donated to The Riley Jane Lawrence and Claudia Faye Wadlington Fund through SDN. Look for two more stories on the organizations aided by the donations received.
