Patronato Pro Ninos Historical Walking Tour

Published July 2, 2024

Back in the early 1970s, Stirling Dickinson would take his VW bus out into the campo, first to provide shoes and warm clothes to the kids of poor families, then toothbrushes and toothpaste to help them keep healthy smiles. Basic as that help was, it was important and laid the foundation for Patronato Pro Niños, which for decades has sent up to five medical and dental vans to the campo every weekday to provide free professional dental and medical care to children and teens whose families lack insurance or the resources to provide it themselves.
Then a little over 10 years ago, a clinic was built in San Miguel, staffed with a doctor, dentist and psychologist, as well as a social worker to help families get the help they need, either directly from Patronato Pro Niños or hospitals and specialists in the area.
Over the years, Patronato Pro Niños has made a big difference in the lives of literally thousands of kids in and around San Miguel de Allende. And it’s all been done through donations. A key source of financial support has been provided since 1991 by the organization’s Historic Walking Tour, giving residents and visitors alike a grounding in San Miguel’s nearly 500-year history while visiting historic buildings and churches.
The 21/2 hour tour starts in the Jardin in front of the Parroquia every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10:00am and the donation of $400.00mxn per person goes directly to ensuring that Patronato Pro Niños’ delivers services to the neediest children of San Miguel and the surrounding area.

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By promoting good health and oral hygiene, by providing necessary medical and dental care, by working with other health care providers as advocate and funding source, we help children from economically disadvantaged families in San Miguel de Allende lead healthier, fuller lives. And we’ve been doing this for 45 years. We now see second and third generations of the same family. These families trust Pro Niños.  And we’ve earned that trust by helping literally thousands and thousands of children through the years. With your help, we will continue this tradition and add to the many programs we already have in place.

Please donate now so that more children may THRIVE.

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Founded in 1970, Pro Niños was able to provide medical care to only 20 children in our first year of operation. Since then, we have grown in size and scope so that we now provide dental care to over 9,000 children, and medical care to 2,500 children in and around San Miguel de Allende. In total, we give more than 23,000 treatments a year. To serve these children, we have on staff four dentists, a doctor, a full time social worker and eight support staff.   We are accredited in Mexico as a charitable, non-profit organization (Asociación Civil), registered in the Federal Registry and awarded with tax exemption status. We are also incorporated in the United States as a 501 (c)(3) under the name “FTC International, Inc.” to accept U.S grants and individual donations.   All Mexican children from birth to 16 years of age who do not receive medical care from private insurance or social security benefits are eligible for our medical and dental care programs. It is estimated that 44,000 children fall into the 0-to-16-year-old category. Less than 15% receive social security benefits, leaving many without adequate medical care. We coordinate our services with two Mexican government programs (Seguro Popular and Nueva Generación) and fill some much-needed service gaps. Dental care, for other than the middle and upper-economic class, is nonexistent.   To preserve dignity and promote parental involvement with necessary follow-up care, families are asked to participate in the cost of their child’s care according to their ability, which in many cases is as little as ten pesos.   Every morning at 7:30, our three mobile dental vans depart San Miguel to visit some of the hundreds of villages needing dental services. Teachers, parents and children often meet our dentist and her assistant/driver at the entrance of the village. In a typical day, our dentists are able to dispense 25-30 treatments and the vans will return to the village for as long as it takes to serve every child.   The medical and dental care we provide can dramatically change lives and in some cases, even save lives. Once we have determined an individual child’s needs, we work closely with medical providers – as advocate and funding source – to make sure the child gets the best care possible.   On any given day in the clinic, our doctor treats as many as 20 children directly and refers others to specialists and various service providers as needed. The doctor also conducts follow-up to ensure that the children receive the required care from outside service providers. The in-clinic dentist treats an average of 15 children per day; those whose villages are not being visited by the mobile vans.   The Mexican Government, recognizing that Pro Niños fills gaps in the health services provided to citizens, provides support through grants of various amounts from various departments.  Other funds are raised through donations from members, local residents, and visitors to San Miguel. We also receive additional funding from other active charities in San Miguel and from foundations.