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La Misión Narciso Sanchez Medio, S.J.
Centro de Educación Para la Salud Integral
The idea of the ILAC Center came from Fr. Narciso Sanchez Medio, S.J., one of the ILAC founders. He and Dr. Raymond Shaddy, DDS, an ILAC participant for eight years and later Associate Vice President for Health Sciences at Creighton, had a vision for the future of ILAC.
The ILAC Center is the answer to a true necessity. The many years of service to the Dominican campesinos led the ILAC staff and participants to realize that new and more adequate techniques were needed to improve the health and their quality of life there. The focus of the ILAC service was formed on two points: the better education on prevention of diseases and practical solutions of health maintenance. Fr. Narciso brought these ideas to the then Bishop Roque Adames of Santiago and to the then-auxiliary Bishop Juan de Jesus Moya, presently the Bishop of San Francisco de Macoris. The bishops collaborated in the planning with great support and enthusiasm. Dr. Shaddy passed away in 1986 before construction of the center. Fr. Narciso died in 1989 without seeing the completion of his dream. Both men had a vision beyond mere physical health, but inclusive of the integration of the spiritual and the physical: integral health.
The ILAC Center is committed to promoting health, physical and spiritual, in Dominicans and foreigners, to all people in need, rich and poor. Even with the complex still under construction, the ILAC Mission is already promoting integral health from its new buildings around the church of St. Omer, the heart of the mission.
These projects are in progress:
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The ILAC Summer Health Care Program. Dominicans and North Americans together serve in the most needed rural communities in the Dominican Republic. |
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Health Promoters Project. Campesinos selected by their communities receive training and continuing education on the promotion of health and other basic care for their communities. |
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Semester Abroad for Creighton Students (Semestre Dominicano). An experience of academics, social work, and/or working in the business community in the Dominican Republic. Combined with reflection, the program gently brings Creighton students through the process of conscientization. |
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Spiritual Retreats. Retreats promoting the Christian ideal of service to others. |
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The "VIDAS" Program. Past participants of the Summer Health Care Program can return to the Dominican Republic and work in the rural clinic of Janey, Jarabacoa, located in the Central Range Mountains. |
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Occupational/Physical Therapy Program. This program offers the opportunity for personal and spiritual growth to students and professionals through service in the city hospitals and nursing homes of Santiago. |
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Program to Promote Rural Education. A project promoting the education of children and adults in rural areas -- young adults are selected and educated to return as teachers to their respective rural communities. |
This website is dedicated to the 17 men and women of Creighton University who are participating in the Semestre Dominicano program in the Spring Semester of 2001. From January to May, these students will live as a community, studying, reflecting, and serving others. In terms of academics, they take courses in Spanish language and literature, sociology, history, theology, and community service. On those days they are not in the classroom, the students travel to their community service projects: some teach the children in the poorest barrios of Santiago or the bateys of Haitian immigrants; some work in the orphanages which house severely physically and mentally handicapped children; some work in the neonatal and burn unit at a children's hospital; and the list goes on.
Throughout the next semester, the Semestre Dominicano students and others associated with the program will share their experiences online. We hope to make fresh updates weekly. Stop by often and see what this great group is doing!
