Many Give Hand In Clinic Opening

A new medical clinic in Romania will be a mini-Rockwood Clinic with a touch of Pathology Associates and Christ Clinic thrown in.

Borrowing heavily from the practices, policies - and in some cases the storerooms - of Spokane clinics, laboratories and hospitals, volunteers plan to open a diagnostic clinic in Braila on May 16.

This week, a team of Spokane volunteers will begin consulting in southeast Romania.

Romanian physicians and staff have been trained on the laboratory equipment. Now it’s up to consultants like Ken Beam, 65, to ensure it works.

The retired laboratory technician left Spokane on Tuesday to set up 1990s equipment in Braila, a world of 1950s technology.

With a generator and laptop computer, he’ll troubleshoot electrical problems and supply needs with Joe Kramarz, 54, a retired medical equipment salesman. His wife, Becky Kramarz, 53, a retired nurse from Holy Family Hospital, will train staff on how to operate the clinic.

The friends are traveling under the International Assistance Program, a Christian charity in Spokane that helped Romanians establish a farm and private seed factory in Braila, as well as the clinic and other charities.

Dick Carpenter, a retired attorney and military officer, is applying for a $100,000 grant from a European foundation to support the operation.

“We see a potential to help a group of people accomplish their vision and share Christ with their country,” says Keith Davis, executive director.

, DataTimes MEMO: See related story under headline: Chilberg takes on Romanian orphanage