VCOM 2020 Annual Report

INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH

DOMINICANREPUBLIC

Oscar de la Renta Pediatric Care Center PUNTA CANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC A gift from the family of the late Oscar de la Renta in 2017 paved the way for the Punta Cana Foundation and VCOM to build a pediatric clinic in Verón. The Oscar de la Renta Pediatric Care Center, which opened in May 2017, provides much- needed general, urgent and emergency care, as well as critical immunizations. Services including X-ray, ultrasound, dentistry and others make this clinic the new standard for the Dominican Republic, according to the Dominican Republic’s Minister of Health. Two new clinical directors have been appointed for the Verón Primary Care Clinic and the Pediatric Care Center, which has seen an increased volume of patients. Within the year, future expansion will offer care in ophthalmology and serve special-needs children. A newly established relationship with Akron Children’s Hospital should greatly benefit the population served by the clinic. The Oscar de la Renta Pediatric Care Center daily patient count was 150 to 200; The Verón Family Medicine Clinic daily count adds another 150 to 200 patients, resulting in over 80,000 underserved patients this year.

2019 Clinic enhancements include: • A new VCOM-affiliated Private Ophthalmology Center and Clinic for Special Needs Children to complement VCOM-affiliated clinics • A fully established relationship with Akron Children’s Hospital • The Children’s Hospital supplements the Pediatric Care Center and residency education

Left to right: Frank Rainieri, President and CEO of Grupo Punta Cana, and the late Ted Kheel were the in-country founders of the VCOM Medical Initiative in the Dominican Republic; Julissa Grullon, MD, Director at Oscar de la Renta Pediatric Care Center; Mayelyn Pena, MD, Sub-Director for Emergency Medicine at Oscar de la Renta Pediatric Care Center.

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